Chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced India's squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England on Saturday, May 24. Following Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's recent Test retirements, major changes were expected to take place in India's Test squad and they indeed end up happening.
On one hand, Shubman Gill was made the new skipper in the longest format and Rishabh Pant was made his deputy, and on the other hand, both Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh received their maiden Test call-ups. Also, notable players like Mohammed Shami and Sarfaraz Khan weren't included in the 18-member squad.
Sarfaraz Khan hasn't played Tests for India since 2024
Sarfaraz, who hasn't featured for the Men in Blue in the format since 2024 when he played in the three-match series against New Zealand, won't be playing in the upcoming England tour either which will mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Though Sarfaraz did impress in the series and played a brilliant knock of 150 in the first Test, his form dropped massively in the next two matches and he only managed to score a total of 21 runs in his next four innings. Agarkar stated the same thing when explaining why was the batter left out of the squad.
"Sometimes you just have to make good decisions. Sarfaraz, I know he got a 100 in the first Test (vs New Zealand) and then didn't get runs. Sometimes it's decisions the team management takes," Agarkar said at the press conference.
Despite getting picked in the squad for the Border-Gavaskar series 2024/25 against Australia, Sarfaraz didn't make any appearance in the five-match assignment.
Ahead of the series against England, the batter underwent a major body transformation and lost 10 kilograms through a disciplined dietary plan. Following this, he got picked in the India A squad for the two-match series against the England Lions.
The onus is now on Sarfaraz to impress in the upcoming matches with India A after which, he may get a chance to make a comeback in the Men in Blue's Test set-up.