Sarfaraz Khan’s non-selection in the Indian Test team for the upcoming Test series against Australia has created a storm in Indian cricket. Many former greats and fans have slammed the BCCI selectors for not including him in the 17-member squad announced for the first two matches. Sarfaraz, who was the leading run scorer in the Ranji Trophy last season and has already scored three centuries this year, also expressed his disappointment at not getting a chance. He gave an interview to quite a few news publications and also took to Instagram to share a cryptic post that was reportedly aimed at the selectors. Sarfaraz’s act of expressing disappointment, on the other hand, has not gone down well with former Mumbai captain and current chief selector Milind Rege, who has slammed the cricketer for taking to public platforms to express his disappointment and instead said that he should focus on making runs only and he will surely get his chance.
“Keep performing, but making ridiculous comments won’t help matters. Sarfaraz should refrain from making comments against his (India) selection. His job is to score runs. He has to concentrate on his batting,” Rege told Mid-Day.
After not getting an India call-up, Sarfaraz disclosed the conversation he had with BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma and his promise of giving Sarfaraz a call-up for the Bangladesh tour last year.
“Sarfaraz has been in tremendous form, there is no question about it. But there has to be a place in the (Indian Test team) batting line-up. His form is incomparable and unbelievable. Wherever there is an opportunity, I think he will get his chance. But right now, where is the place?” he added.
The 73-year-old drew a comparison between Sarfaraz and Mumbai’s head coach Amol Mazumdar and said that despite scoring over 11,000 runs in domestic cricket, the former cricketer never got a chance to play for India as there was no place in the team.
“When a man like Amol, who scored more than 11,000 First-Class runs, is a Mumbai coach, Sarfaraz should look at Amol’s plight and carry on with the game. Amol scored plenty of runs, but he was never selected because there was no place in the national side,” Rege added.
