Reactions continue to roll in to Mumbai star Sarfaraz Khan not being included in the Indian squad for their upcoming Test series in the Carribean. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has stated that India had missed a chance to test younger players like Sarfaraz by selecting a plethora of senior players, a view shared by a number of other former players.
Sarfaraz's continued exclusion from the Indian squad is at odds with the kind of numbers he has stacked up in domestic cricket over the past two years. The 25-year-old's first class figures currently stand at 3505 runs scored in 37 matches at an average of 79.65 and an impressive strike rate of 70.21. He has scored 13 centuries and nine half centuries.
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This is where the headline catching statistic of him being the best since the legendary Don Bradman comes - Sarfaraz's average is the second highest in the history of first class batters who have played at least 50 innings. The highest, of course, is Bradman himself, who maintained a mind bogging average of 95.14 across 338 innings, scoring 28,067 runs with 117 centuries and 69 half centuries. The players ranked below Sarfaraz include the likes of Vijay Merchant, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Steve Smith and Martin Crowe among other greats of the game.
Former India women's head coach WV Raman, however, tried to put himself in the selector's shoes while analysing why Sarfaraz continues to be denied a place in the Indian team. “There were some views expressed supposedly by the selection committee with regards to his (Sarfaraz's) non-inclusion. One of them seems to be that he needs to improve his ability to play against fast bowling and the other thing seems to be that he needs to improve on his fitness and fielding as well,” Raman told former India opener Aakash Chopra on the latter's Youtube page.
{{/usCountry}}Former India women's head coach WV Raman, however, tried to put himself in the selector's shoes while analysing why Sarfaraz continues to be denied a place in the Indian team. “There were some views expressed supposedly by the selection committee with regards to his (Sarfaraz's) non-inclusion. One of them seems to be that he needs to improve his ability to play against fast bowling and the other thing seems to be that he needs to improve on his fitness and fielding as well,” Raman told former India opener Aakash Chopra on the latter's Youtube page.
{{/usCountry}}"Somebody can turn around and ask me, what is it that they are trying to convey and do they think they are gods. No, they are not gods. They are not trying to really find faults with Sarfaraz Khan."
Raman stated that selectors tend to look beyond merely a player's numbers. "What happens generally is that in a selection committee meeting, they not only see the numbers that a cricketer has put up, they also try and discuss about the various things that they might have detected in a cricketer's framework of technique or his attitude, or the perceived ability of a cricketer with regard to international cricket."
“That's exactly what this committee has done. They feel that Sarfaraz Khan may perhaps not be up to it when it comes to facing international fast bowlers. These kind of judgemental calls are the norm in selection committee meetings. This has been done before, this committee has done it and it will also be done in the future,” said Raman.