New Delhi: The 16-person India squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, where the team will be playing two Test matches, have been released by the BCCI's selection committee on Friday afternoon.  While young players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Mukesh Kumar received their first call-ups, Sarfaraz Khan's ignorance once again did not sit well with Indian cricket fans or the players themselves. A day after being passed over for the third time in 2023, Sarfaraz emailed the BCCI selectors an explosive message.

Sarfaraz hasn't exactly been piling up runs lately. He had crushed 928 runs at an enormous average of 154 during the 2019–20 season. He scored 982 runs at 122.75 in the following season, followed by a 556-run season in 2022/23 in which he smashed three hundreds. He has played 35 times and scored 3505 runs for an average of 79.65 and 13 tonnes.

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Despite the impressive figures, Sarfaraz did not make the Indian Test team's final selection. He almost certainly would have made the team for the trip of Bangladesh last year, but he was kept waiting despite the fact that he acknowledged the selectors had spoken with him. But a same incident also occurred in 2023, when he was disqualified from the Border-Gavaskar series, the World T20 Championship final, and subsequently suffered the same fate for the West Indies series, which starts on July 12.

Sarfaraz sent a sharp message to the selectors on Friday by posting a video of his Ranji Trophy season highlights as an Instagram story in retaliation for the rejection. On it, there was no caption. Well, none was necessary.

Earlier on Friday, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was left fuming at Sarfaraz's repeated snub as he questioned the basis of selection of the Indian team.

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"Sarfaraz Khan 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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