BCCI selector breaks silence on Sarfaraz Khan’s Test snub

The silence on Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion from the Indian team has finally been broken. Sarfaraz has been in blazing form in the domestic circuit, having scored three massive centuries in the Ranji Trophy.

Many felt that he would definitely make it to the Indian Test team, however, his name was nowhere to be seen when the BCCI announced the squad for the first two Tests for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Opening up about the same, BCCI selector Sridharan Sharath explained the reasons behind Sarfaraz’s exclusion.

The national selector emphasised on the fact that whenever players are selected for the national team, the selectors look into team composition and balance. He stated that there is no doubt about the fact that Sarfaraz is a fantastic batter, but players are chosen based upon the team’s requirements.

We have to consider things like composition and balance: Sridharan Sharath

Sarfaraz is a middle-order batter and at present, the Indian team’s middle order is heavily stacked with Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer staking a claim as first-choice players respectively, along with a wicketkeeper-batter at No. 6.

“Kohli is still a match-winner. Cheteshwar Pujara brings stability to batting. Rohit Sharma is an excellent leader and a fabulous bat. Shreyas Iyer has been consistent. Shubhman Gill and KL Rahul have the genuine ability,” Sridharan said.

Meanwhile, Sridharan also added nothing is lost for Sarfaraz, stating that squads for only the first two Tests against Australia have been announced thus far. He suggested that the right-handed batter is definitely under the BCCI “radar”.

“He is certainly on our radar. In due course, he will get his due. While picking the team, we have to consider things like composition and balance,” he said.