Team India’s selection for the first two Tests of the upcoming series against Australia as part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has led to plenty of debate. Suryakumar Yadav has been picked in the 17-member squad based on his T20I exploits, although he has hardly played any red-ball cricket in recent years. Also, Ishan Kishan has been named the second wicket-keeper in the Test squad in Rishabh Pant’s absence due to his car accident. As per some news reports, he might even pip KS Bharat, who has been the standby keeper in the Test squad since many consider the left-hander a like-for-like replacement for Pant. On the contrary, there is no place for Sarfaraz Khan, who has been in stupendous domestic form over the last two, three reasons. The 25-year-old Mumbai batter has a sensational first-class record. In 37 matches, he has notched 3505 runs at an average of 79.65, with 13 hundreds and nine fifties. In the 2019-20 season, he clobbered 928 runs in six matches at an average of 154.67. Sarfaraz was the leading run-getter in the 2021-22 season, with 982 runs in six games, averaging 122.75. In the ongoing season, he scored 556 runs in six matches, averaging over 92. Not surprisingly, he was expecting a call-up to the Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Tests against Australia. However, he was snubbed again as white-ball stars Kishan and Suryakumar got the nod. Carrying on with the tradition of not having a press conference to explain the selections, the team was just announced via a press release on the official BCCI website. And so, there is no clarity over the reasons behind selections and exclusions in the Test team.
BASIS OF KISHAN AND SKY’S SELECTION?
This story is from the January 27, 2023 edition of Cricket Today.
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This story is from the January 27, 2023 edition of Cricket Today.
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