Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that dropping Sarfaraz Khan from the Test squad against the England series was a tough call. Sarfaraz, who was part of India's squad during their recent Test assignment in Australia, has missed his spot from the Shubman Gill-led squad for the upcoming five-Test match series, which is scheduled to start from June 20.
Gavaskar further explained that failure in the New Zealand series made things tough for him, and Sarfaraz didn't get a game in Australia and then missed the Ranji Trophy due to injury, adding that there was no way the selectors could have known about his form.
Gavaskar said that the players should not take anything for granted and keep performing to the best of their abilities in every game.
“It's tough, that's what cricket is all about. When you get opportunities, you have to make sure the place is yours. Even if you score a hundred, you should make sure that you don't go into your next innings thinking you scored a hundred in the previous knock. You have to get your eye in and get those runs again. You must not give anybody a chance to push you out of the team” Gavaskar told IndiaToday.
“It's entirely up to you to ensure you cement that spot. You need to keep knocking on the doors and break the doors down.”
“I think it's a tough call because after the tour of Australia, there was no red-ball cricket. Yes, there was the Ranji Trophy, but he was injured. So, he didn't play. There was no way he could show what his form was.”
“You have to be undroppable. We have seen in the past, if a team loses a series, the guys who are 13th, 14th, 15th in the squad get dropped. You have to take your chances,” he added.
While announcing the squad, the chief selector Ajit Agarkar also justified the decision of dropping Sarfaraz and said that the decision was taken by the team management in the best interest of the team.
"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. Whether it's fair on somebody or unfair on someone, those are the choices that you make in the best interest of the team,” Agarkar said.
The upcoming five-Test match series against England will be India's first red-ball assignment after a 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.