Ahead of the Boxing Day Test between India and South Africa, Sarfaraz Khan smashed a 61-ball hundred in the intra-squad game against Rohit Sharma’s side. Sarfaraz did not try to block on the bouncy track and took the attacking approach as he took on the bowlers.
Sarfaraz stepped out against spinners and played square of the wicket against the pacers. He did not refrain from playing the uppercut. He even employed the reverse sweep during his scintillating knock.
Despite consistent performances in domestic cricket, the Mumbai batter is yet to get his debut Test cap. He has scored 3,657 runs from 61 innings in first-class cricket at an average of 71.70 including 13 centuries and 13 half-centuries.
As Ruturaj Gaikwad ruled out of the Test series against the Proteas, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been asked to stay back.
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old remained unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 mini-auction in Dubai on December 19. As he is an uncapped player, his base price was Rs 20 lakh but still none of the franchises showed interest in him.
Sarfaraz struggled in the previous season for Delhi Capitals (DC) as they struggled in the absence of an injured Rishabh Pant. He managed to score just 53 runs from four appearances. His strike rate was very low at 85.48.
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill scored a century on December 21 in the preparatory game ahead of the Test series opener in Centurion. Gill walked in to bat at no.3 and gained confidence with a hundred after two unimpressive appearances in the T20I series against Aiden Markram-led side.
Earlier in the month, KS Bharat was named replacement of Ishan Kishan who pulled out of the Test series. In addition, Mohammed Shami was ruled out of the Test series as he could not recover from the ankle injury picked up during ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023.
India’s Test squad for South Africa: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
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