'Sarfaraz Khan's performances outweigh Karun Nair's. But someone thought...': Agarkar, Gambhir called out by Manjrekar
India's 18-member Test squad for England, which was announced on Saturday, was pretty much on expected lines. Shubman Gill was captain, Karun Nair made his much-awaited comeback to the Indian team after eight years, Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh earned their maiden Test call-ups, while the injured Mohammed Shami was ruled out. However, the one name that polarised opinions was Sarfaraz Khan. The 27-year-old Mumbai batter, who hasn't done too badly in the chances he got while playing for India, was dropped from the squad. Despite scores of 69 and 56 against England and a fantastic knock of 150 against New Zealand, albeit in a losing cause, Sarfaraz was shown the door despite being part of India's squad in Australia.
Reacting to Sarfaraz's omission, former India batter-turned-broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar called out the squad that was picked by the BCCI chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir. Manjrekar feels the current leadership group, unlike the Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri and the Rahul Dravid-Rohit Sharma era, would pick players based on their own instincts rather than performances, something Sarfaraz has been a victim of.
"Under Gambhir's stewardship and with Rohit not there anymore, I see a tendency in this management to pre-empt performances of individuals while making selections. As in, the dominating thought here is to apply their own view of the likely success and failure of players depending on conditions and opposition," Manjrekar said in his column for The Hindustan Times.
"Take the example of Sarfraz Khan. Three fifties and a 150 at home in four Tests and failures in only four innings after that and Sarfaraz does not get a single game in Australia. For the England tour too, he has been left out despite his performances in recent times outweighing Karun Nair's completely. So, this non-selection is not about performance, it's about someone important in the leadership group thinking Sarfaraz will not get runs in England and Australia, and Karun Nair will."
Manjrekar's take on Nair vs. Sarfaraz comparison is debatable though. Nair has been in red-hot form, scoring runs in every tournament he's played in. Nair pummelled 863 runs in nine matches for Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy, was the highest run-getter in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, amassing 779 more. Even this year, where he played his first IPL match in three years, Nair smashed 89 for Delhi Capitals.
Sarfaraz Khan last played in November, featuring in a warm-up match for India. Since then, he has focused on fitness, shedding 10 kilos, but despite his efforts, he faced a setback when omitted from India's squad for the five-Test series in England.
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