The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced Test and ODI squads for India's tour of West Indies on June 23 with a few surprising changes after an embarrassing defeat in the WTC 2023 final. As expected, Yashavi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad received their maiden call-ups but there was no place for Sarfaraz Khan in the Test squad, which has angered the cricket fans and the former international cricketers.
Many have raised their voice in support of Sarfaraz as it's been frustrating to his name snubbed again and again. The Mumbai batter has been one of the most consistent batters in domestic cricket for the last two years but the national team selectors continue to ignore the youngster.
The legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and Ranji Trophy ace Wasim Jaffer shared strong criticism toward the management for snubbing Sarfaraz for the West Indies series. The player himself shared an Instagram story on Sunday, June 25, where he highlighted his numbers in the previous Ranji Trophy and his match-winning knock in the Irani Cup 2022.
Sarfraz Khan has scored 3505 runs in 37 First Class matches at an average of 79.65 with 13 hundred so far. His Ranji Trophy average is 81.7, third-highest after Sachin Tendulkar and Vijay Merchant, and slightly better than Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. But it's not enough to get selectors' attention?
Aakash Chopra also joined the cricket fraternity to question the team management over Sarfaraz's snub for the West Indies tour. He said that the sanctity of first-class cricket will be lost if Sarfaraz Khan never gets an opportunity to play for India.
"Will Sarfraz be remembered as someone who scored a mountain of runs in First-Class cricket and still never got an opportunity to play for India??" Aakash Chopra wrote in his Tweet. "I really hope that’s not the case. And I hope that what more he needs to do to get picked is communicated to him. Otherwise…the sanctity of first-class cricket (the heart and soul of Indian cricket) will be lost."
