A new era has begun in India’s Test journey, with Shubman Gill taking over the team’s captaincy from Rohit Sharma while Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan find a spot each in the squad, following the exits of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Without the two veteran duos, India are staring at a journey of complexities, with the onus now on skipper Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant to lead the troops. However, one player who many felt was unfairly dropped from the side for the 5-match Test series against England was Sarfaraz Khan.
After toiling in domestic red-ball cricket for years, Sarfaraz finally made his way to India’s Test side, making his debut against England in February last year. However, the batter didn’t play a single game in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia before being dropped from the team entirely.
Reflecting on the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee’s decision to drop Sarfaraz, who also shed 10 kgs of weight before the England tour, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar had some bitter truths to share.
“It’s tough, that’s what cricket is all about. When you get opportunities, you have to make sure the place is yours. Even if you score a hundred, you should make sure that you don’t go into your next innings thinking you scored a hundred in the previous knock. You have to get your eye in and get those runs again. You must not give anybody a chance to push you out of the team,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“It’s entirely up to you to ensure you cement that spot. You need to keep knocking on the doors and break the doors down.”
Gavaskar admitted that it was a ‘tough’ call from selectors to drop Sarfaraz after the Australia tour as the batter couldn’t show his form in domestic cricket due to an injury.
“I think it’s a tough call because after the tour of Australia, there was no red-ball cricket. Yes, there was the Ranji Trophy, but he was injured. So, he didn’t play. There was no way he could show what his form was.”
“You have to be undroppable. We have seen in the past, if a team loses a series, the guys who are 13th, 14th, 15th in the squad get dropped. You have to take your chances,” he added.
In the press conference on Saturday, Agarkar said that Sarfaraz was dropped from the team as he ‘didn’t get runs’ after the New Zealand ton.
“Sometimes you just have to make good decisions. Sarfaraz, I know he got a 100 in the first Test (vs New Zealand) and then didn’t get runs. Sometimes it’s the decisions the team management takes. Whether it’s fair on somebody or unfair on someone, those are the choices that you make in the best interest of the team,” Agarkar had said.
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