Sarfaraz Khan has been given a chance to be a part of the Indian Test team. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were injured during the first Test against England and the selectors called up Sarfaraz, Washington Sundar and Sourabh Kumar for the upcoming game in Vizag.
Sarfaraz is in direct competition with Rajat Patidar to play in the second contest. Rajat was added to the side after Virat Kohli opted out of the games in Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam.
Former India player Deep Dasgupta is pretty happy with Sarfaraz’s selection, as the Mumbai-based batter is scoring consistently in domestic cricket.
After multiple snubs, the selectors were finally convinced that Khan belonged to the big league after he slammed a magnificent century against the England Lions. Deep opened up on the harsh reality of cricket.
“It is good for both Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar. Sarfaraz has scored a lot of runs in the last few seasons. However, he, along with Rajat, will have to accept and embrace the reality that when Virat Kohli and other players return to the side, they will be sent back to domestic cricket. They will be dropped. If they accept it sooner, they will be at peace. I know it is tough, but you will have to deal with the truth,” Deep Dasgupta said.
He also opened on a regular snub of the aggressive batter.
“There was a section that was not convincing with Sarfaraz as he was not getting runs against big teams. He played for India A but didn’t perform. Even in the Ranji Trophy, there are some pretty ordinary teams, and scoring against them is not considered good. One has to get runs against sides like Tamil Nadu,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Rohit Sharma-led team fell short by 28 runs in the first Test of the five-match series. Despite taking a lead of 190 runs on the basis of the first innings, the host nation couldn’t beat the visitors. Ollie Pope (196) and Tom Hartley (7 wickets) broke India’s back in the match.
India are likely to pair Kuldeep Yadav with Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel in the next Test. A
On the other hand, England are thinking of playing the all-spin attack with no pacer in the squad. Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed, Hartley, and Joe Root were the spinners in the Hyderabad game. Mark Wood was the sole pacer but was not impactful.
With Shoaib Bashir getting the Indian Visa, Brendon McCullum could field him in place of Wood.
India’s updated Squad for 2nd Test vs England: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Sourabh Kumar.