Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar slammed the team management for treating Sarfaraz Khan fairly on the recent tour of Australia. Khan was able to break the selection door after scoring a truckload of runs in the domestic circuit.
The right-hander scored 200 runs in five innings against England at an average of 50. Furthermore, the Mumbai batter scored an impressive 150 against New Zealand but managed 171 runs in six innings against the Kiwis at an average of 28.50.
However, Khan was ignored on the Australian tour despite being in the squad and Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel were given their opportunity in the opening Test at Perth in the absence of Rohit Sharma (personal reason) and injured Shubman Gill.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo, “Sarafaraz Khan was rewarded for his tremendous record at the first-class level. He got three fifties and a 150 and got out terribly in the next Test. But then, he was completely dumped. I don’t think that’s right even if you feel that Sarfaraz Khan might not succeed on these kinds of pitches.
“What if he had found a way to get runs, with the third man being his main scoring area. It was a revelation how he played against England. Let’s not try and play God too much. May be just watch a little bit. Be concerned about how they’ll shape up at the highest level. But you’ve got to reward people who have got runs,” the former India cricketer added.
Manjrekar feels the team’s think tank had a premeditated mindset as they thought Abhimanyu Easwaran would struggle after his low returns for India A while playing against Australia A.
“There was a lot of pre-emption. A lot of people were playing God with Abhimanyu Easwaran, watching him in a warm-up game and thinking he’s not going to get runs. That is not a good way to look at things because cricket springs you surprises.”
The cricket analyst gave the example of how Virender Sehwag succeeded as a Test opener despite beginning his career while batting at number five and six.
“There was Virender Sehwag batting down at No. 5 and No. 6 and then opening at the Test level and becoming one of India’s greatest Test openers.”
India will next take on England in five T20Is and three ODIs.
