West Indies legend Chris Gayle has backed his former IPL teammate Sarfaraz Khan to make a strong comeback into the Indian Test squad ahead of the upcoming 2025-26 home season.
The 27-year-old Mumbaikar who has set the domestic First-Class charts on fire since 2020, ended a four-year wait to make an entry into the Test team in early 2024. Sarfaraz made an instant impression with quickfire fifties against England before racking up a magnificent 150 against New Zealand in Bengaluru. However, the right-handed batter was overlooked during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia, benched throughout the five-match series.
Despite featuring in the India A tour of England, Sarfaraz was snubbed from the Test squad for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy that India drew 2-2 against Ben Stokes’ men in August. Reports had since emerged that the Mumbai bulwark had lost nearly 17 kilos, chiselling his body to make more gains on the field.
‘Nothing wrong with weight’
“He should be in the Test side. He should be in the Test squad at least, you know. Scored a century against England at home, not in the squad. I saw a post a couple of days ago. He lost weight. The weight wasn’t even, nothing was wrong with his weight or anything. He’s just fine. He was still scoring runs,” Gayle said in a podcast episode with Shubhankar Mishra.
“The man scored triple centuries in first-class cricket. So if they’re using that against him, that’s sad, you know. They should never use that against him. That youngster should have been a part of the squad 100%. I mean, India have so much talent, man, but give the man a run,” he added.
Sarfaraz, who has yet to feature in a match since June, has amassed 4685 First-Class runs in 55 matches, averaging 65.98 for 16 centuries.
Why is Sarfaraz not part of India A squad for Australia series?
While India A are slated to play two First-Class games against Australia A in Lucknow from September 16, Sarfaraz was not picked for the assignments. It is learnt that the star Mumbaikar had suffered a quadriceps injury in the lead-up to the domestic season while playing for Mumbai in the Buchi Babu Trophy in Chennai last month.
