While India and England battled out in a tense series, Sarfaraz Khan set to work. Ignored for the tour, the 27-year-old hit the gym and underwent a drastic transformation to further boost his case. Now on the eve of the domestic season, Khan has blasted twin centuries to remind the selectors and the team management of his immense talents.
Sarfaraz Khan is knocking on the selection door again, where does he fit in the XI?
Sarfaraz Khan scored a fighting 150 against New Zealand in the first Test last year but his returns dwindled in the next two games. He was subsequently ignored for the tours of Australia and England, with the likes of Karun Nair, Sai Sudharsan preferred. The retirements of Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli has had no bearing on Sarfaraz’s fortunes and he continued to miss out.
Khan since underwent a stunning transformation, losing 17kgs in 2 months. Leaner, Sarfaraz signed up to play Kanga League in Mumbai and now featured in the Buchi Babu invitational. The 27-year-old slammed back to back centuries in final style, against TNCA XI and Haryana. Sarfaraz had a scored 111 off just 112 balls, smashing 9 fours and 5 sixes. That came when Mumbai were 84/4, with no other top order batting scoring a half-century.
India’s next assignment is the home test series against West Indies. With Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant certainties at No.4 and 5, there aren’t many open positions in the XI. Should Gambhir continue to feature an all-round heavy side, Sarfaraz could once again find himself in the periphery. The Mumbai batter could however hunt down the No.3 spot, with Sudharsan and Nair both struggling to make sizeable impact.
Since Gambhir took over, India have tried 6 batsmen at No.3 with minimal results. Sarfaraz’s best Test score came batting at No.4 against New Zealand. The Mumbai star could be a long term fix to a problem position in the Test side.
| Player | Mat | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 |
| Shubman Gill | 7 | 401 | 119* | 33.41 | 62.07 | 1 | 1 |
| B Sai Sudharsan | 3 | 140 | 61 | 23.33 | 41.05 | 0 | 1 |
| Karun Nair | 2 | 111 | 40 | 27.75 | 58.11 | 0 | 0 |
| Virat Kohli | 1 | 70 | 70 | 35 | 63.06 | 0 | 1 |
| Devdutt Padikkal | 1 | 25 | 25 | 12.5 | 26.59 | 0 | 0 |
| KL Rahul | 1 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 51.06 | 0 | 0 |
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