Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his dissatisfaction with Sarfaraz Khan being completely dropped from the Indian team, believing it was an unfair decision. He felt that Sarfaraz should not have been replaced by KL Rahul, especially after Sarfaraz’s impressive performances in domestic cricket. After a string of strong scores, Sarfaraz earned his chance to play for India in the England Tests, where he scored 200 runs in three matches, including three fifties. He later scored his maiden Test century against New Zealand in Bengaluru but struggled in subsequent matches, which led to his exclusion from the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar acknowledged that he anticipated Sarfaraz would make way for Rahul, but he wasn’t happy with the way it was handled. He also pointed out how Abhimanyu Easwaran was prematurely judged after his performance in the warm-up match.
“When we had that discussion before the first Test, I said it shouldn’t be as simple as dropping Sarfaraz Khan and bringing in KL Rahul. There was a lot of preemption, and people were too quick to judge Abhimanyu Easwaran based on his performance in a warm-up game. That’s not the right approach, as cricket often throws up surprises,” Manjrekar explained.
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Manjrekar believes the team management should have given Sarfaraz more time before making the change and rewarded him for his impressive first-class record.
“Sarfaraz Khan earned his spot with his exceptional first-class performances, scoring three fifties and a 150. Yet, after a poor run in the next Test, he was completely dropped. I don’t think that was fair,” Manjrekar said. “Even if there’s a doubt about his success on certain pitches, what if he had adapted and found a way to score runs? We saw how he played against England, so let’s not be too quick to judge. It’s important to reward players who have scored runs.”
Sarfaraz has accumulated 371 runs from 11 innings at an average of 37.10