Ruturaj Gaikwad got his maiden call-up in India’s Test squad for the upcoming tour of West Indies. India’s all-format tour of West Indies will include 2 Test matches, the series will kick-start the WTC 2023/25 cycle for both teams.
The selectors have acknowledged that the transition period in the Test team needs to commence soon; they dropped Cheteshwar Pujara and have included two new faces in the squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
This has eked mixed reactions from fans. While Jaiswal is deserving of a call-up because he has a jaw-dropping average of 80 in his 15-match first-class career, fans are displeased with the selection of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has simply ordinary numbers in red-ball domestic cricket: in 28 first-class matches, Ruturaj Gaikwad averages 42, which is decent, but not remarkable, nothing about it says that Ruturaj Gaikwad has broken the door down. There are a few batters who have better or similar numbers to Ruturaj Gaikwad, but didn’t get selected for WI series.
Here are 2 batsmen who should have been selected over Ruturaj Gaikwad for West Indies Test series:
Sarfaraz Khan
The question everyone is asking is the same: what more does Sarfaraz Khan, or any batsman, need to do to get selected if not his stunning numbers. While there are claims that selectors are not happy with Sarfaraz’s fitness and disciplinary issues, there is no denying or ignoring the cold, hard numbers: in 37 first-class matches, Sarfaraz has an outstanding average of 79 with 13 centuries to his name.
To put this context how legendary these numbers are: in the history of first-class cricket in the world, among batters who have scored over 2000 first-class runs, only two batters have an average of over 75 – Sarfaraz and Sir Don Bradman. That’s how iconic these numbers are from the 25-year-old Mumbai batsman. Yet, he couldn’t knock down the door of the BCCI selectors.
It would be a shame if Ruturaj Gaikwad with a first-class average of 42 gets to make his Test debut ahead of Sarfaraz Khan with a first-class average of 79.
Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal is 32 years old. So it’s not like he’s nearing the end of his career. In fact, going by his recent Ranji season, it seems Mayank Agarwal is attaining another peak.
Mayank Agarwal had the misfortune of never getting a long rope in the Test side as an opener. Indian selectors and management rotated him according to when they wanted to pick Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and now Shubman Gill, and Agarwal being the nice guy never raised a voice, nor did get much support from elsewhere.
However, Agarwal let his bat do the talking: in the Ranji Trophy 2022/23 season, Mayank Agarwal finished as the top run-scorer in the season with 990 runs at an average of a whopping 82. Yet, the Karnataka batsman didn’t get a recall. Agarwal averages 41 in Test cricket and has an overall first-class average of 45, yet it is Ruturaj Gaikwad who is selected for WI tour.
