The legendary West Indies batter Chris Gayle was not really impressed with the way Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir and national selectors are treating the talented batter Sarfaraz Khan.
Gayle has called for justice for Sarfaraz Khan’s numbers and talent.
The 27-year-old batter was left out of India’s squad for the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England, which ended in a 2-2 draw. He last played for India during their humiliating whitewash in the Test series at home at the hands of New Zealand in November 2024.
Chris Gayle demands justice for Sarfaraz Khan
Recently, Gayle said that Sarfaraz Khan is his favorite Indian player and he should definitely be part of the Indian Test team. He pointed out that the right-handed batter had scored a century against England in India but was still ignored for the recent tour.
The legendary West Indies batter also mentioned that concerns about Sarfaraz Khan’s weight were unnecessary, as the batter was fit and performing well.
Chris Gayle said during a YouTube podcast with Shubhankar Mishra “I mean, he should be on 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.”
Chris Gayle urges India to give Sarfaraz Khan a “run”
He highlighted Sarfaraz’s achievements in domestic cricket, including multiple triple centuries in first-class matches, and felt it was unfair for these performances to be used against him. Gayle emphasized that the deserving players like Sarfaraz should be given a chance, a longer rope.
He added, “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 has so much talent, man, but give the man a run.”
Notably, Sarfaraz has so far played six Tests for India, scoring 371 runs with the help of one century and three fifties at an average of 37 and a strike rate of near 75.
MS Dhoni deserves to play as long as he wants: Chris Gayle
During the same conversation, Chris Gayle was asked about whether MS Dhoni should come back for the 2026 IPL season. The former West Indies batter has strongly supported the idea, saying that Dhoni has the right to keep playing as long as he wants to continue playing.
Gayle signed off by saying, “Oh, why not? Like I said, he should play as long as he wants to. He earned that. He earned the right to play as long as he wants to, and he earned the right to walk away when he wants to as well. Yeah, absolutely.”
MS Dhoni has had an iconic career in the IPL. He has played 278 matches, scoring a total of 5,439 runs at an average of 38.80 and a strike rate of 137.45. Over the course of his career, he has also scored 24 half-centuries, apart from leading Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to five IPL titles.