Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at the Chetan Sharma-led All India Selection Committee for ignoring up-and-comer Sarfaraz Khan amid his red-hot form on the domestic circuit.
Overlooked for the high-profile Test series between India and Australia, young talent Sarfaraz continued his impressive run in India’s domestic series and added another hundred to his bag recently.
Earlier, days after former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad slammed the national selectors for ignoring Sarfaraz, former batsman Gavaskar lent his support to the talented batsman by taking an epic feat in the All India selectors.
Former India captain and veteran cricket commentator Sunil Gavaskar slammed critics for questioning Sarfaraz’s fitness. Speaking to India Today, Gavaskar said cricketers come in all shapes and sizes.
“If you are looking for only slim and trim guys, then might as well go to a fashion show and find some other models and give a bat and ball in their hands and then improve them. That’s not the way cricket goes.”
“You have cricketers in all shapes and sizes. Don’t go by the size, go by the scores or wickets. He is not staying off the field when he scores a hundred. He is back on the field again. So, all that tells you is that the man is fit.”
The 25-year-old Sarfaraz has so far scored 3505 runs in 37 first-class matches with a high average of 79.65. Commenting further, Gavaskar says,
“How can you score runs? I think at the end of the day if you are unfit, you aren’t gonna score hundreds. Cricket fitness is the most important thing. Yo-Yo Test can’t be the only criterion. You got to make sure that the man is cricket fit as well. If the person, whoever it is, is cricket fit, then I don’t think it should be any matter.”
Sarfaraz scored an impressive 125 off just 155 deliveries against Delhi to continue his purple patch. However, his century went in vain as Mumbai ended up losing the game by eight wickets after a disappointing show in the second innings where Sarfaraz was sent back on a duck.
The youngster has already notched up 556 runs in six matches in the Ranji Trophy this season at an impressive average of over 92. He has three centuries and a half-century under his belt for Mumbai this season