In the first year of his international career, batter Sarfaraz Khan seems to have gotten a taste of — what it is like to be a part of the Indian team. Having made his debut in the IND vs ENG series in early 2024, Sarfaraz went on to impress in the series, then in the IND vs NZ series impressed with his maiden ton, and then after a few failures, was completely ignored for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where even someone like Devdutt Padikkal played ahead of him.
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But this chopping and changing, and the tactic of ignoring the player completely, hasn’t gone down well with ex-India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. The latter had some harsh words to say to the ones calling the shots — for not picking Sarfaraz Khan in the playing XI during the entire series.
“When we had that chat before the first test, I said that it shouldn’t be as straightforward a decision which Sarfraz Khan taken away and KL Rahul put in,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo. “I think there was a lot of preemption, a lot of people were playing God with Abhimanyu Easwaran and watching him in a warm-up game and thinking that he’s not going to be getting a run. I think that’s not a good way to look at things because cricket springs you surprises.”
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“Sarfaraz Khan was rewarded for his tremendous record at the first-class level. He got three 50s and a 150, but then got out terribly in the next Test. But then he was completely dumped. I don’t think that’s quite right,” Manjrekar added.
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Manjrekar even backed Sarfaraz to get some runs, had he been picked in the playing XI in the BGT. “Even if you feel that Sarfaraz Khan might not succeed on these kinds of pitches, what if he had found a way to get runs, with the third man being his main scoring area? I mean, it was a revelation how he played against England. So let’s not try and play God too much, maybe just watch a little bit, be concerned about how they’ll shape up at the highest level. But you’ve got to reward people who’ve got runs,” the former cricketer added.
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