West Indies legend Chris Gayle backed Sarfaraz Khan, a former IPL teammate, to make a return to the Indian Test side. The 27-year-old Mumbaikar after stellar shows in the domestic circuit was handed a Test debut in 2024. He made an immediate impression with fast-paced fifties against England and followed it with an incredible 150 against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
However, he failed to hold on to his spot in the playing XI and remained on the bench for the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Despite touring England with India A, Sarfaraz was overlooked for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Well reason behind his exit from India's Test setup remain unknown, the red-ball specialist showed great progress on his fitness. He shed nearly 17 kilos, reshaping his body to enhance his on-field performance.
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“He should be in the Test side. I saw a post a couple of days ago. He lost weight, nothing was wrong with his weight or anything. He’s just fine. He was still scoring runs,” Gayle told Shubhankar Mishra in his YouTube show 'Unplugged'.
“The man scored triple centuries in first-class cricket. That youngster should have been a part of the squad 100 percent. I mean, India have so much talent, but give the man a run,” he added.
Sarfaraz did not find a place in the India A squad for the two unofficial Tests against Australia A, starting from September 16 in Lucknow. It is understood that the Mumbai batter picked up a quadriceps injury during the Buchi Babu Trophy in Chennai last month, disrupting his domestic season preparations and subsequently delaying his ambitions of India return.
Sarfaraz has 4685 First-Class runs from 55 matches at an average of 65.98, which include 16 hundreds. Sarfaraz has slammed a ton and notched three half-centuries in the six Tests he has played so far.
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