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Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan has been making headlines after consistent performances in domestic cricket. For the past two seasons, he has been piling on runs but still hasn’t received his maiden callup for the Test side.
India's ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has lauded Sarfaraz who did not get his maiden call up against Bangladesh. The selectors did not give him a chance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as the 17-member Test squad included white-ball speciallist Suryakumar Yadav.
“Where do I begin about this batsman? Sarfaraz Khan. There is so much debate on whether he should get selected or not. But he is not caring about selection, guys. In the 2019-20 season, he scored 900 runs. In the 2020-21 season, another 900 runs,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“This season, he has scored almost 600 runs. He has made a strong statement with his sheer performances. He is averaging in excess of 100 in the last three seasons at a high strike-rate as well. Sarfaraz Khan is not just smashing on the selection doors. He is burning them. But unfortunately, he is not getting selected currently,” said the off-spinner.
“Despite not getting selected, he played a terrific knock for Mumbai against Delhi, the game in which Mumbai lost,” the 36-year-old further added.
Nicknamed ‘India ka Bradman’ by his teammates, Sarfaraz has been vocal about his feelings on not making into India’s Test squad. He does not have a preferred batting position and wants to take up any role he gets to make it into the side.
“I kept wickets in Syed Mushtaq Ali quarter-final, semi-final and final. Earlier, I had kept in school cricket and state matches as well. I have five wickets in India A. Whenever and wherever I get a chance I'll perform,” the 25-year-old had told Sports Tak.
However, Sarfaraz may have an outside chance to get his maiden callup as Shreyas Iyer is yet to regain fitness before the first Test of the four-Test series which is scheduled to start on February 9 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur.
