New Delhi: Former India wicketkeepers MSK Prasad and Saba Karim questioned the logic behind ignoring Sarfaraz Khan's Ranji Trophy results and referred to his exclusion from the Indian Test team for the West Indies tour as a "shocking decision."

“I am very surprised. I am perplexed with the thought process of the Indian selectors right now. The guy has literally knocked the door down. What else do you want from him,” Saba Karim told 

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Saba Karim has also questioned the appointment of Ainkya Rahane as vice-captain. He said: “You have picked Yashavi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad because you are looking to make that transition, while on the other hand, you have made Ajinkya Rahane the vice-captain. It is like taking one step forward and then two steps backwards.”

In the meantime, Cheteshwar Pujara, who was cut from the team but continued to score runs and was recalled, has been used as an example by former chief selector MSK Prasad, who has also expressed unhappiness over Sarfaraz's exclusion.

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“I feel this is not the time for Sarfaraz to get frustrated. The only thing that is in his hands are to keep performing. Duleep Trophy starts on Wednesday and it is another chance for him to score runs. Look, he can only control the controllables,” said Prasad.

“When the famous Fab Five were playing for India, there were many cricketers who didn’t get the chance in the middle-order. Subramaniam Badrinath’s name comes to my mind.Sachin Tendulkar,Saurav Ganguly,Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were delivering at the international level and Badrinath was scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket, but he didn’t get much chances.”

“Sarfaraz needs to take the examples of Mohinder Amarnath, and Laxman, who were ignored and dropped but they made an excellent comeback. At present, he can take a cue from Pujara’s grind, who was dropped, he went to county and scored so many runs. He earned the Test recall; now again, he is being dropped, and he is ready to do grind it out again. Getting disappointed is not the solution. I am sure he will get his chance, but he must keep scoring runs,” added Prasad.

In each of the last three Ranji seasons, Sarfaraz has scored 2566 runs. In the 2019–20 season, he scored 928 runs. In the 2022–23 season, he scored 982 runs. Sarfaraz has a 79.65 first-class cricket batting average. The 25-year-old has played in 37 first-class games and scored 3,505 runs overall with 13 centuries.

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The national selectors have come under fire from Sunil Gavaskar for neglecting Sarfaraz.

“Sarfaraz has been scoring at an average of 100 in all past three seasons. What does he have to do to be picked in the squad? He might not be in the XI, but you pick him in the team,” Gavaskar said

 “Tell him that his performances are being recognised. Otherwise, stop playing Ranji Trophy. Say, it’s of no use, you just play IPL and think you are good enough for the red-ball game as well.”

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