‘Had I been the selector…’: R Ashwin loses cool over Sarfaraz Khan’s omission, blasts Ajit Agarkar | Cricket News
Social media erupted over the exclusion of 28-year-old Khan, who has recently shed a lot of weight and scored heavily in India’s domestic cricket in recent years, as people asked what more he could do to secure a call-up.On Tuesday, when the national selection committee picked the Indian squad for the two first-class games against South Africa A, Sarfaraz, who will celebrate his 28th birthday on Wednesday, didn’t find his name in either of the two squads to be led by Rishabh Pant.Prolific domestic batter Sarfaraz Khan boasts a first-class average of 65.19 across 56 matches and an astounding 117.47 over the past five years, scoring 2,467 runs with 10 hundreds and five fifties.Earlier this year, the 27-year-old shed 17 kg to prove his fitness, scoring consistently against England (50 in three Tests) and New Zealand (150 in the first Bengaluru Test) in the 2024-25 home season. Despite this, he hasn’t played a single Test since being overlooked for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.Returning from a quadriceps injury that kept him out of the Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup, the Mumbaikar looked in rhythm, scoring 42 and 32 in his comeback innings against J&K.Former India cricketer R Ashwin blasted the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel for ignoring Sarfaraz Khan.“When I examine Sarfaraz’s non-selection, I don’t receive any explanation. I am very sad and feel sorry for him. Had I been the selector, what would I have called him up and said?,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.“He has reduced his weight, and he has been scoring runs; he also scored a century in his last Test series.“And this sort of non-selection leads me to think that someone must have been thinking that we have seen enough of him, and we no longer want him, so we don’t want to go in that direction.“If I were Sarfaraz Khan, that is what I would be thinking. He has been dropped from the India A side. It’s literally like the door has been shut.
Poll
Do you think Sarfaraz Khan should have been selected for the Indian squad against South Africa A?
“Where will he perform? Now, if he performs well in first-class cricket, they will say he is very good only for first-class cricket.“So he won’t get picked for India A now. Where will he go and prove his credentials? Where will he show that he has improved? So, such non-selection feels like someone’s decision, whether from the management side or the selection side, that we are no longer looking at him.”
