Gambhir, Gill not trusting Ranji Trophy stars? Ex-selector says Agarkar can't be blamed for sidelining Sarfaraz, Easwaran

Ajit Agarkar cannot be blamed for not selecting star Ranji Trophy performers such as Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and Mumbai middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan as the chief selector can only include players in the squad if head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill are on board, a former selector has said.

Gambhir is facing immense backlash from fans after India’s sorry 0-2 defeat to South Africa in the recent Test series. Under Gambhir, India now have two Test series whitewashes at home. Before the left-hander took over the reigns as head coach, India had only been whitewashed once at home in their entire Test cricketing journey. Gambhir has also only been able to find Test series victories against West Indies and Bangladesh so far in his coaching career.

Poor performances alongside some stubborn decision-making have put Gambhir’s job under threat with fans demanding sacking. However, BCCI is keen to give Gambhir more time with a young Indian team.

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First-Class performers being overlooked from Indian Test side

Despite head coach Gambhir’s insistence of treating First-Class cricket as priority, the team has not trusted consistent Ranji Trophy performers like Easwaran and Sarfaraz. Easwaran has been in and around the Indian squad for some time now but could not make his Test debut while Sarfaraz has not been included in the playing XI despite hitting a century in his third-last match.

“People might blame Ajit and his committee for not selecting Abhimanyu and Sarfaraz, but then do the head coach (Gautam Gambhir) and new captain (Shubman Gill) have faith in their abilities? If not, what will Ajit alone do?” a former selector told PTI. 

Rinku, Ruturaj, Patidar in line for Test call-up

The PTI report also quoted the former selector as saying that Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar and Rinku Singh could be in line to earn a place in the Test side after poor showing by batters in the South Africa series.

Even though Gambhir backed his players after the South Africa whitewash, the report said that the head coach could be ruthless when it will come to dropping underperforming players.

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“You will be a fool if you take every Gauti statement at face value. He can be ruthless if there’s non-performance. Before you know, you might see Sudharsan and Reddy fall by the wayside come 2026. He only backs performers,” the former selector said.

India’s next Test assignment is in Sri Lanka where Gill and Co will play two Test matches in August 2026. The team will then travel to New Zealand for a couple of Tests before finishing their quota for the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle with a five-match home series against Australia.