Sarfaraz Khan's 'Fitness Concerns' Raised Again After Batter Was Dropped From India Squad For England Series
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India are all set to travel to England to take the Three Lions on in an important five-match Test Series. India named their squad for the series recently and it was a completely new-look side with Shubman gill as the new captain. With the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, it was expected that Sarfaraz Khan would be part of the squad, given he was in the setup in the India's last few series in red-ball, including the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was not named in the squad vs England, and star India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has pointed out why.
In an interaction with Hindustan Times, Cheteshwar Pujara opined that Sarfaraz Khan was not in the India squad vs England, because he has been successful in Asia, and the selectors felt that he might not be as successful overseas. His fitness issues could also have been a reason. However, he agreed that someone like Karun Nair deserved the opportunity.
"The reason he is not in the squad, I feel, is he has been very successful in the Asian conditions or in India. The management feels that he may not be as successful in Australia or in England. And there were some fitness issues in the past. I don't know about his current fitness. But he has been working hard on his fitness also. So, at this stage, I feel it's a bit unfortunate. But at the same time, someone like Karun Nair, who has performed really well in domestic cricket, deserved an opportunity," Pujara said.
Why Was Sarfaraz Khan Ignored?
At the press conference where the squad was announced, chief selector Ajit Agarkar indicated that they picked Karun Nair over Sarfaraz Khan. This is because in the absence of Virat Kohli, the team needed some experience in the middle order, and Nair fit the bill perfectly.
He also stated that Sarfaraz has not been consistent with the chances he got. After scoring a century in the first Test vs New Zealand at home, he did not get enough runs.
“Sometimes you just have to make good decisions. Sarfaraz, I know he got a 100 in the first Test (against New Zealand) and then didn’t get runs. Sometimes these are decisions the team management takes. At the moment, Karun has scored heaps of runs in domestic, has played a bit of Test cricket, played a bit of county cricket. With Virat not there, clearly we’re lacking a bit of experience. We felt his experience could help,” Agarkar said.
