Sarfaraz Khan’s fans have to wait a bit longer to see him don the India cap on the field of play as he has not been included in the playing XI for the 2nd Test at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Team India have gone in with Rajat Patidar ahead of Sarfaraz for the second Test and it has brought disappointment for Sarfaraz’s fans who were expecting him to make his debut in Vizag.
Notably, Sarfaraz received his maiden India call-up on January 29 after a long wait. The 26-year-old is going through some excellent form. He scored 96 against England Lions in the Tour match and followed it up with scores of 55 and 161 in the first and the second Unofficial Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
In such a young career, Sarfaraz has already proved his mettle in the domestic circuit. The Mumbai batter has aggregated 3912 runs in his 45-match-long first-class career. He has a stellar average of 69.85 in the first-class circuit and looks ripe to make the opportunities count if he is presented with the same at the international level.
Meanwhile, Patidar is eager to make the opportunity count as he gets the gig in place of KL Rahul. If Patidar goes on to get a big score in Vizag then that will give a good headache for the team management.
Here’s how X users reacted to Sarfaraz’s non-selection in the playing XI:
India’s playing XI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav
England’s playing XI:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson