Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif questioned Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion from India A series against South Africa A. Kaif said one can’t say that Khan doesn’t score runs as he performs consistently in the domestic circuit.
Khan has scored 371 runs in six Test matches at an average of 37.10. The right-hander was included in India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia but didn’t get a chance in the playing XI.
Subsequently, the Mumbai batter was overlooked for the five-match Test series against England. The right-hander had scored a fine knock of 150 runs against New Zealand in 2024. Furthermore, Khan has lost weight to get fitter and thus his exclusion is surprising.
Kaif said on his YouTube Channel, “You can’t say, he [Sarfaraz Khan] doesn’t score. He scores in all games. If you talk about Ranji, he’s an average of around 100.”
“First, there were talks that he’s not fit, can’t run. There were question marks about his fitness. He got himself fit, and then people said that he can’t play fast bowling. Until he scored 150 against New Zealand while playing against fast bowlers, till then he was called a hero in domestic cricket. He proved people wrong.”
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has been named as the captain for the two four-day matches against South Africa A.
India A squad for the 1st four-day match: Rishabh Pant (C) (WK), Ayush Mhatre, N Jagdeesan (WK), Sai Sudharsan (VC), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Anshul Kamboj, Yash Thakur, Ayush Badoni, Saransh Jain.
India A squad for the 2nd four-day match: Rishabh Pant (C) (WK), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Sai Sudharsan (VC), Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
India A vs South Africa A series schedule:
1st Four-day match – October 30 to November 2 – Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru
2nd Four-day match – November 6 to November 9 – Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru
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