Sarfaraz Khan was overlooked once again by the BCCI as the selectors named Ishan Kishan as the replacement player for the injured KL Rahul in the WTC Final squad to take on Australia at The Oval.
KL Rahul, who was expected to bat in the middle-order in place of Shreyas Iyer, sustained a thigh injury during the IPL 2023 and will undergo surgery, missing the remainder of the IPL 2023 and the following WTC Final in June.
Now while Ajinkya Rahane, who made a comeback in the Test squad is now likely to get into the XI in place of KL Rahul at number 5, fans had been expecting that someone with red-ball domestic success as that of Sarfaraz Khan would be picked as the replacement of KL Rahul in the squad.
However, not only Sarfaraz Khan is not picked as Rahul’s replacement, he is also not in the 3 standbys that the selectors have named.
Sarfaraz Khan had piled up 556 runs in the 2022/23 Ranji Trophy season at a Bradman-esque average of 92.6 with three centuries.
Suryakumar Yadav, who played one Test match against Australia, uncapped batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad, and uncapped seamer Mukesh Kumar are the three standbys to travel to England. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan were part of the home Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with SKY making his Test debut.
Fans were really upset and furious with the BCCI for ignoring Sarfaraz Khan once again despite his terrific domestic form over the past three years.
Here are some reactions from fans over the exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan from WTC Final squad:
Jaiswal or Sarfaraz should have been there in place of Ruturaj 🥺
— Raju Sharma (@imrajusharma45) May 8, 2023
Ishan Kishan Selected over Sarfaraz Khan,
Dear BCCI,
That Captain who beat you in #Championstrophy was @SarfarazA_54 not poor Sarfaraz Khan ispe kiu Gussa Nikal rahai ho ? Why is he facing this injustice 🥹 https://t.co/ouOpep5yYD— Sameer (@innocent_samie) May 8, 2023
It feels sorry for Sarfaraz Khan
— Rishabh Mishra (@Rishabh48996759) May 8, 2023
Sarfaraz, Upendra Yadav, Akshay Wadekar in the squad only to even look at them in the nets, you're never going to pick them in a one-off Test like WTC. Personally, as a fan, I am fed up with the defence 'that we don't have options'. Or 'we need experience'.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) May 8, 2023
Sarfaraz Khan if India is in danger of becoming the modern day Fawad Alam.
Overlooked despite a stellar first class record— MoMoChugsy (@Mozzer_321) May 8, 2023
Same with Sarfaraz man, and he is scoring bulk of runs in domestic from last 3 seasons unlike Ishaan who has failed to cement his place in any of format
Also Ishaan too is useless against swinging ball— Tushar (@Lazyblogger04) May 8, 2023
Justice For
Sarfaraz
Jaiswal
Panchal
Easwaran
Saha
Jackson
Jagdeeshan— Laksh Sharma (@im_laksh_18) May 8, 2023
Instead of Ishan .. why not Sarfaraz ?
— Anish Ashturkar (@anishashturkar) May 8, 2023
Sarfaraz deserved it more
— Mayur👓 (@mayureshh31) May 8, 2023
So according to Indian selectors a big hitter like Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan deserve to be in the test team while a poor IPL performer like Sarfaraz Khan who had topped the run chart in the last couple of Ranji tournament don't even deserve to be considered for standby
— Hassan Choudhury (@KonthaHassan) May 8, 2023
Sarfaraz ko leta to kya jata unka..?? 🤦🤦
— Cipher (@cipher037) May 8, 2023
Sarfaraz why not him? Been hearing that he plays good test cricket 🤔🤔 https://t.co/Ugn8HVpXEU
— BufferedStart (@BufferedStart) May 8, 2023
India’s squad for WTC final 2023: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.
Fast bowlers Jaydev Unadkat (Shoulder injury) and Umesh Yadav (hamstring) are also dealing with injuries.
