He waited for long. But then, he came, he saw and he conquered. Sarfaraz Khan made his Test debut with a 48-ball half-century to all but shut the door on Shreyas Iyer. Sarfaraz made his debut in IND vs ENG 3rd Test in place of his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer, who was dropped following a poor run of form. And now, he looks set for the big run in Test cricket.
Many including the selectors believed Sarfaraz Khan was not ready despite scoring nearly 4000 runs in First Class cricket at an average close to 70.00. But the gamble to send him after Ravindra Jadeja did the trick.
Time’s up for Shreyas Iyer?
A sound player of spin bowling, he took the attack to the Bazballers, smashing nine boundaries and a six. He scored at 104.49, something even the inventor of Bazball, Brendon McCullum would be proud of.
With Shreyas Iyer getting the boot from India Test team, it is now Sarfarz Khan’s time to shine and cement the place. While it’s still too early for him in international cricket, with no Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in the scheme of things, Sarfaraz will keep Shreyas Iyer away from the Test side, at least till the Australia tour.
Even though Shreyas Iyer made his Test debut with a century at home, his struggles against short balls and a string of low scores saw him getting axed from the team.
