Despite the success in England in the team’s first series under Shubman Gill’s captaincy and the big gaps left by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirement, some huge areas of concern were evident in the Indian team as the number three and six spots remained up for grabs following the failure of debutant Sai Sudharsan and veteran Karun Nair to make a mark.
Ahead of the upcoming home season, in which the two-time World Test Championship (WTC) runners-up will face West Indies and South Africa, all eyes will be on the two middle-order spots when chief selector Ajit Agarkar announces the squad and later head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Gill pick the playing XI.
Sarfaraz Khan Breaks The Door Open
Sarfaraz Khan has made a big statement to push his case after not getting a chance in the playing XI on the tour of Australia last year, after being benched in all five games of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and later being dropped from the squad for the tour of England.
Sarfaraz has made a strong start to the 2025-26 season with two centuries in two games of the Buchi Babu Trophy, an annual pre-season red-ball tournament. Last week, the 27-year-old started the season with a century against TNCA XI for Mumbai. On Tuesday (August 26), the right-handed batter further cemented his case with a three-figure score against Haryana in Mumbai’s second match of the tournament.
India will return to action in red-ball cricket against West Indies from 2nd October at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium before actions move to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The squad for the series is expected to be announced next month.
Sarfaraz will get a big chance to make a case in the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy, which will take place in Bengaluru from August 28 at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence. He will play for the West Zone under Shardul Thakur’s captaincy. The 19-time champions have got a bye to the semi-final, where they will face the winner of the quarter-final between North and South Zone.
Nair, who made a comeback to Team India after eight years, could face the axe with Sarfaraz and Shreyas Iyer leading contenders to take his spot.
Sarfaraz has an impressive record in Test cricket after making his debut in February 2024 with 371 runs in six games at an average of 37.10 with one century and three half-centuries.