Some things don’t come easy. Despite being in the mix, Sarfaraz Khan just doesn’t seem to earn the confidence of the selectors for some reason, and has been out of the playing XI since the last New Zealand series. He was a part of the team that went to Australia, but never got a game there. To add to the misery, he was part of the IND A vs ENG Lions series, played only one match there and even scored a 92.. but was not considered for the England Tests.
Sarfaraz Khan Loses 17 Kg
Time-and-again, doubts have been raised over his fitness. And Sarfaraz Khan seems to be leaving no stone unturned, to grab the attention of the selectors. And why not, there are two slots open in the Indian team, after the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — and the ones of the England tour — Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair, haven’t done their bit to cement the spots.
Back in Team India Reckoning Soon?
So, just to get one of the two spots, Sarfaraz has shed 17 kg weight, and looks a lot fitter now. That could certainly help his case, in terms of agility, power, running-between-wickets, and even his fielding. Now, with all the lost weight, his next mission would be to score piles of runs in the upcoming domestic season, and come back into the Indian team.
In fact, former England batter Kevin Pietersen too endorsed his weight-loss journey, and even urged Prithvi Shaw to take a cue from it.
For the record, he played his last Test in Nov 2024, against NZ, and in that series returned with scores of 0, 150, 11, 9, 0 & 1. In the six matches he has been a part of, he has scored 371 runs at an average of 37, while in FC, he has played 55 matches scoring 4685 runs at an average of 66.
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