Suddenly, Sarfaraz Khan is back in the conversation. After spending most of the last two years outside the national team, Sarfaraz Khan received a call-up for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka after Sai Sudharsan failed to regain fitness in time.
Sarfaraz last played for India against New Zealand in November 2024, a series that saw India suffer their first home series loss in 12 years. The defeat was also India’s first-ever whitewash at home. He had made his Test debut earlier that year against England at home.
Sarfaraz was also named in India’s squad for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour of Australia but did not get a game. In six Tests and 11 innings for India, he has scored 371 runs at an average of 37.10, including a century and three fifties, with a best score of 150.
There is buzz around whether Sarfaraz should be preferred over Dhruv Jurel in a middle-order role. India great Ravichandran Ashwin says the Indian team management, led by captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir, should communicate properly with Sarfaraz.
“I’ll start with Jurel. Sarfaraz came into the squad because of Sai Sudharsan’s injury. The messaging is very important for Sarfaraz. If you feel he is a suspect in certain conditions, you need to give him clarity. You need to tell him that he can serve the team in sub-continental conditions,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat.
“So that way, even Sarfaraz won’t waste his time on the rest of the things. He can focus on playing good spin, and he can become the king of the sub-continental conditions. He can build his career. If you feel he cannot work in certain conditions, then communicate that to him.”
Meanwhile, former India batter WV Raman said he would prefer Sarfaraz Khan over Dhruv Jurel in the side’s playing XI for the first Test against Sri Lanka, starting in Galle on Saturday, citing the visitors’ need for a frontline batter in the middle order who can attack the hosts’ spin bowling line-up.
India must fill two vacant batting slots from a pool of three players: Devdutt Padikkal, Jurel, and Sarfaraz, as they open their series against Sri Lanka. With Padikkal expected to seal the No. 3 spot in B Sai Sudharsan’s absence, the remaining contest is between Jurel and Sarfaraz.
“I would tend to think that in a Test match, you will have to go for the specialist. Dhruv Jurel has done well as a wicketkeeper-batter. He gets some runs. But this man has also done well, the young boy Sarfaraz Khan. So, I think if you have picked him in the side as a specialist batter for Test cricket, I would rather go with him.
“But he is also a very good player of spin. He can be an attacking option. The other thing that he will bring to the table is that he is also a good close-in catcher, and that is perhaps something that you would need, especially if Sri Lanka dishes out a turning track,” Raman told IANS in an exclusive conversation facilitated by Sony Sports Network on Thursday.
Both Jurel and Sarfaraz made their Test debuts against England in Rajkot in February 2024, and their journeys have been very different since. Jurel has been a regular in the set-up as a wicketkeeping backup to Rishabh Pant while also playing as a specialist batter on occasion.
A much fitter Sarfaraz, meanwhile, was called up as a replacement for the injured Sudharsan, thus marking his return to the side after being unused during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia.