Cricket world rues Sarfaraz Khan's absence from Team India despite heroic domestic run

Indian cricketer Sarfaraz Khan became a big talking point for the Indian cricket community on Friday after he failed to fetch a Team India call-up for the upcoming assignments against New Zealand and Australia. While Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan made headlines for being called up to the Test squad against Australia, Prithvi Shaw received a call-up to the T20I squad against New Zealand. Shaw’s inclusion in the team came after an extended snub, followed by a strong performance across the Indian domestic competitions.

However, many big names from the cricketing fraternity felt 25-year-old Sarfaraz was unlucky to not land a spot in the Indian squad. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was one of the big names to comment on the topic. “There was a bit of an opening in the Test squad…was hoping that Sarfaraz will make it to the squad. He’s done everything that one could do to deserve a call-up,” Chopra wrote.

On the other hand, renowned cricket pundit Harsha Bhogle also took to his official Twitter handle and said, “Very hard on Sarfaraz Khan who has literally broken the door down in first-class cricket. You can't do more than he has”. At the same time, former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh said, “Spare a thought for Sarfaraz khan. I don’t understand what else he needs to do to get into the test team”. 

Fans call for Sarfaraz Khan's inclusion in Team India

In his first-class career for Mumbai, Sarfaraz has played a total of 30 innings and has scored 2436 runs at an average of 110.73. He has scored six fifties and smashed nine hundreds while scoring the highest of 301 runs. Interestingly, he has hit two centuries and two half-centuries in his last four Ranji Trophy matches for Mumbai. Here's how fans reacted to Sarfaraz Khan's snub.

BCCI announces Team India squads for New Zealand and Australia assignments

India’s ODI squad against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik.

India’s T20I squad against New Zealand: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.

India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.