‘Give reasons, now!’ – Fans fume as Sarfaraz Khan gets excluded for first two Tests vs Australia

The selection committee announced the squad for the first two matches of the four-match Test series against Australia on January 13, Friday and one has to agree that there were too many surprises for the fans. One of them was the inclusion of the white-ball specialist Suryakumar Yadav in the squad and the exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan who has been doing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit. 

Jaydev Unadkat, who was called up after a decade for the series against Bangladesh, retained his spot while Ishan Kishan, the T20I specialist will act as the backup wicketkeeper with KS Bharat being the leading keeper in the absence of star Rishabh Pant, who is recovering post his accident in Mumbai. 

As far as the pace battery is concerned, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Unadkat are all set to take on the mighty Baggy Greens. Ravichandran Ashwin will lead the spin battery, while veteran Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion in the squad will be subject to his fitness and other factors. Above all, Sarfaraz’s exclusion from the squad has come to haunt the selectors as fans are demanding clarification for the same, despite his continued great run in the domestic circuit. 

Could Sarfaraz Khan continue his stupendous form in the domestic circuit despite his exclusion from the IND vs AUS series?

The Australians will look to win the Border-Gavaskar trophy given that it is with India at the moment, who managed to win it on their home soil during the tour in 2020/21 on the back of heroics from Pant and Washington Sundar. Axar Patel, the Indian allrounder, was picked ahead of Sundar for the upcoming series and it remains to be seen if it will mean the end of Sundar in the Test setup. 

As far as Suryakumar is concerned, it will be a tough ask from the batter and one has to see if his inclusion in the Test setup would affect his run in the white-ball format as well. However, on the other hand, it might come to give the Indian team, the much-needed batting depth in the middle order. Sarfaraz, on the other hand, would hope to carry on with his blistering form in the domestic circuit and storm into the Indian squad.

Here is the squad for the first two Tests of the IND vs AUS series: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav

Here’s how the fans have reacted to Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion from the first two Tests of the IND vs AUS series: