The BCCI’s selection committee on Friday (June 23) announced Team India’s Test and ODI squads for the tour of West Indies, starting July 12.
Like always, the team announcement sparked a debate on social media. While legends such as Sunil Gavaskar and Harbhajan Singh questioned Cheteshwar Pujara’s snub from the Test side, former opener Wasim Jaffer slammed the selectors for once again ignoring domestic performers like Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal.
Ex-India cricketer and a renowned pundit, Aakash Chopra, also joined the bandwagon and expressed his concerns relating to Suryakumar Yadav’s omission from the Test squad.
Taking to Twitter, Chopra wrote: “And what’s the deal with SKY’s intermittent selection for Tests…gets picked…gets dropped. Is he considered for the longest format or not? And why no Arshdeep for ODI? Is he fit?”
Notably, Surya made his red-ball debut against Australia in Nagpur earlier this year but since then has not played a single Test match. He was not considered for the upcoming West Indies Test series despite lack of options in the middle-order in the absence of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
Earlier, Aakash Chopra criticized the selectors for lack of clarity over Sarfaraz Khan’s continual snubs. The Mumbai batter is yet to receive a Test call-up despite being so prolific in the Indian domestic circuit.
Sarfaraz amassed more than 900 runs in the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons. He continued his brilliance in the 2022-23 edition of Ranji Trophy as well, scoring 556 runs from six matches at an average of 92.66 with three centuries.
“What should Sarfaraz do? If you look at his numbers in the past 3 years, he's head and shoulders above the rest. He's scored everywhere. Even then, if he's not selected... what message does it send?” Chopra said on his official YouTube channel.
"This is a question worth asking. If there's some other reason, something which you and I don't know, make it public. Just say it that you didn't like that particular thing about Sarfaraz, and that's why you're not considering him. But we don't know if there's something like that. I don't know if someone told Sarfaraz about that.
“If you don't value first-class runs, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth,” he further added.
