 "Irfan Pathan has defended Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar over Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion from the India A squad. Images: Irfan Pathan/X/PTI")
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has defended BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar and India head coach Gautam Gambhir amid criticism for not selecting Sarfaraz Khan in the India A squad for the upcoming two red-ball matches against South Africa A. The India A vs South Africa A matches will be followed by India’s home two-match Test series against South Africa, and Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion is seen as a message that the Mumbai batter doesn’t feature in Team India’s plans anymore.
Gambhir has also faced allegations of dividing the team on communal lines by Congress leader Shama Mohamed , who alleged that Sarfaraz Khan has been ignored for being a Muslim, while a few fans feel the 28-year-old batter is paying the price for not being liked by the coach.
Irfan Pathan defends Agarkar, Gambhir over Sarfaraz’s exclusion
Hitting back at conspiracy theorists like Shama Mohamed and fans, former India all-rounder Pathan said that while some selection decisions may look wrong, the management always has a plan and we mustn’t give rise to narratives that are far from the truth.
“Selectors and the coach (management) will always have a plan. Sometimes it might look wrong in the fans’ eyes, but please don’t twist things or create narratives that aren’t even close to the truth,” Pathan wrote on X.
Some reports have suggested that Sarfaraz wasn’t picked as Rishabh Pant has been included in the India A squad and there was no space at the No 5 slot , while others have stated that selectors wanted the middle-order batter to play a few more Ranji Trophy matches.
Meanwhile, legendary Indian cricketer R Ashwin was as baffled as all of us as he said that there’s a good chance the selectors have decided to move on from Sarfaraz Khan.
“If I were Sarfaraz Khan, that is what I would be thinking. He has been dropped from the India A side. It’s literally like the door has been shut. Where will he perform? Now, if he performs well in first-class cricket, they will say he is very good only for first-class cricket,” Ashwin said on YouTube.
“So he won’t get picked for India A now. Where will he go and prove his credentials? Where will he show that he has improved? So, such non-selection feels like someone’s decision, whether from the management side or the selection side, that we are no longer looking at him.”