Sarfaraz Khan has been ruled out of Irani Cup owing to a finger injury. Sarfaraz was set to represent Rest of India against Ranji Trophy’s previous season winners Madhya Pradesh. Sarfaraz sustained a left index finger injury at Delhi Capitals camp and will not be able to recover before Irani Cup starting March 1 at Gwalior.
As a result, Sarfaraz did not take part in the practice match at Eden Gardens on February 26 (Sunday). He was seen wearing a protective fibre cast on the finger as he watched the game from sidelines.
Sarfaraz has been in brilliant form of late. He scored 556 runs from nine innings in Ranji Trophy 2022-23 at an average of 92.66 including three centuries and one half-century.
Sarfaraz was vocal when he was not included in the Test squad against Australia at home. He was also in the reckoning for the Bangladesh Tests but did not get his maiden call.
“I can only work hard and do my best. I have always dreamt of playing well in First Class cricket and I’m glad I’m able to do it,” Sarfaraz had told Sports Tak after hitting a century against Delhi.
Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal has been named as captain of Rest of India squad. Agarwal finished as highest run-scorer of Ranji Trophy 2022-23 with 990 runs from 13 innings at an average of 82.50 including three centuries and six half-centuries. With KL Rahul struggling form, out-of-favour Agarwal has also made a case for his Test comeback.
Rest of India squad: Mayank Agarwal (c), Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harvik Desai, Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Upendra Yadav (wk), Mayank Markande, Saurabh Kumar, Akash Deep, B Indrajith, Pulkit Narang, Yash Dhull
Madhya Pradesh squad: Himanshu Mantri (c & wk), Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Aman Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Ankit Kushwah, Gaurav Yadav, Anubhav Agarwal, Mihir Hirwani
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