Sarfaraz Khan not selected in Rest of India squad for Irani Cup due to finger injury - Reports 

Prolific Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan has reportedly been excluded from the Rest of India squad that will take on Madhya Pradesh in the Irani Cup in Gwalior from March 1 to 5. According to reports, Sarfaraz is injured, so he has not been picked. Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal is likely to lead the team.

Sarfaraz had another stellar Ranji Trophy season. In six games, the Mumbai run-machine smashed 556 runs at an average of 92.66, with three hundreds and one fifty. The 25-year-old has a sensational domestic record. In 37 games, he has notched up 3505 runs at an average of 79.65, with 13 hundreds and nine fifties.

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India is yet to announce the RoI squad for the Irani Cup, a report in Sportstar claimed access to details of the team. According to the report, the Agarwal-led squad has five opening batters.

Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Harvik Desai are part of the batting unit. Meanwhile, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mayank Markande and Pulkit Narang have made the cut among the bowlers.

Akash Deep had an outstanding season for Ranji Trophy runners-up Bengal, claiming 41 wickets in ten games at an average of 20.51. Keeper-opener Desai and left-arm pacer Sakariya were both part of the Saurashtra squad that recently won the Ranji Trophy.

Agarwal, who was dropped from the Indian Test squad after the home series against Sri Lanka in March 2022, displayed prolific form in this year’s Ranj Trophy. He finished as the leading run-getter, with 990 runs from nine games at an average of 82.50.

The right-hander scored three hundreds and six fifties in the season. He hammered a brilliant 249 and 55 in the semifinal against Saurashtra but could not lead his team to victory. Upendra Yadav, Baba Indrajith and Delhi captain Yash Dhull are reportedly the other batting options for RoI in the squad for the Irani Cup.

Rest of India’s Irani Cup opponents Madhya Pradesh won the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy but failed to defend their title, going down to Bengal in the semifinals.

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Irani Cup 2022-23 likely squads

Rest of India: Mayank Agarwal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harvik Desai, Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Upendra Yadav (wk), Mayank Markande, Saurabh Kumar, Akash Deep, Baba Indrajith, Pulkit Narang, Yash Dhull

Madhya Pradesh: Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Aman Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Ankit Kushwah, Gaurav Yadav, Anubhav Agarwal, Mihir Hirwani