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Despite having a first-class average of 79, when India’s Test squad for the series in West Indies was announced, Mumbai batsman Sarfaraz Khan didn’t get a look in from the selectors.
Fans have believed that Sarfaraz is getting unfair treatment from the selectors as the Mumbai batsman has been overlooked time and again for Test selection even though he’s been ransacking big runs and records in the domestic red-ball cricket in the past three years.
As India moved into their transition phase following the loss in the WTC Final 2023, the consequence of which saw Pujara being dropped, fans had been expecting a maiden call-up for Sarfaraz Khan. However, the selectors handed maiden Test call-ups to Jaiswal and Gaikwad.
Ricky Ponting shocked with Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion
Former Australia captain and batting great Ricky Ponting has been left surprised, just like many others, on the continuous exclusion of Sarfaraz from India’s Test setup.
Ponting has worked with Sarfaraz at Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
Speaking with the ICC, Ponting asserted that Sarfaraz Khan’s average of 79 was terrific – the second-highest average for any batsman of all-time in first-class cricket with minimum 3000 FC runs, only behind Don Bradman.
“The one I do feel a little bit sorry for is Sarfaraz Khan. The fact that he hasn’t got a look in a Test squad just yet considering he averages in the high 80s I think in first-class cricket, which is absolutely unheard of, but for some reason, they keep picking these other guys ahead of him,” Ricky Ponting said.
Another young Indian batsman who Ponting has worked with alongside at Delhi Capitals and who is currently out of the Indian team is Prithvi Shaw.
Speaking about Shaw, the DC head coach said “If I wind the clock back a couple of years, I’d put Prithvi Shaw into that category as well. I still think he’s capable of getting back to that sort of, you know, if he wants to do it enough, I’m sure he can get back up there because talent-wise there’s no doubt in the talent he’s got.
“So, yeah, I probably do think those two guys would be the standouts. I think just off the top of my head, batting-wise, they’d be the two. And as I said, well Sarfaraz is the other one that’s got all sorts of talent that we might not see for a little while just yet.”
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