“What do I need to do?” – Sunil Gavaskar on Sarfaraz Khan’s snub from India’s squad for first 2 Tests against Australia

Sunil Gavaskar recently expressed his disgust at Sarfaraz Khan’s absence from India's squad for the first two home Tests against Australia. The series will get underway in Nagpur on February 9.

The former India captain reckons the Mumbai batter has performed way too well to be left out of the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar series. The cricketer-turned-commentator labeled him a special player for being consistent in first-class cricket.

The statement came a day after Sarfaraz scored 125 off 155 balls for Mumbai against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy. Speaking to India Today, Gavaskar said:

“At the moment, sometimes he starts to feel frustrated. What do I need to do? He is scoring runs. He scored triple hundred, and double hundreds, people might say he scored against ordinary attacks.

"I don’t know, I didn’t see them but then how come the other batsmen in the same team did not get 200 when he scored a triple hundred, or other batsmen did not get a hundred when he got a double hundred?”

He added:

“So, for a man or any person who scored these many runs, you have something special to be able to churn out the runs he’s doing so consistently.”

So far, Sarfaraz has scored 556 runs in six games at an average of 92.66 in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, including three centuries.

Last season, the right-handed batter amassed 982 runs in six games at an average of 122.75, including four tons. In the preceding season, he scored 928 runs in six games at an average of 154.67, including three centuries.

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“The man has done enough, add him to the squad” – Sunil Gavaskar on Sarfaraz Khan

Gavaskar wants the All-India Senior Selection Committee to add Sarfaraz Khan to the India squad for the last two Tests against Australia. The former cricketer, however, added that if the Mumbai batter doesn’t get a chance to play, he should better serve Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy.

“What I would seriously like is for the selection committee at this particular point in time to recognize that the man has done enough," Gavaskar added. "Add him to the squad but not if that’s gonna mean that he’s gonna miss the Ranji Trophy.

“I don’t think at this stage he should be missing any Ranji Trophy games. If he’s not be gonna be playing in the playing XI, it’s better that he plays Ranji Trophy. If the Test matches do not clash with Ranji Trophy, it would do him a world of good.”

Gavaskar concluded that Sarfaraz would soon find his way into India's Test squad.

“His time is definitely gonna come," he continued. "I mean, with the scores he is getting, he has to be pretty much in the frame.”

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India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: 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, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Suryakumar Yadav.