Daunting! Gautam Gambhir was brutally criticized for not giving a chance to Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran
Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim has criticized Gautam Gambhir and the Indian team management for not giving chances to Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Karim feels that Sarfaraz and Easwaran have played quite a bit of domestic cricket and are ready to play Test cricket. Both players were in India’s squad for the Test series against Australia but did not get a game.
While Sarfaraz has already made his India debut, Easwaran is yet to play an international match. Easwaran was on the verge of making his Test debut before the series when Rohit Sharma was absent from the first Test. However, the Indian team management chose KL Rahul as the opener to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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Gautam Gambhir was slammed by Saba Karim for not giving chances to Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran
Speaking to Sportstar, Saba Karim expressed disappointment over the way Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran were treated by the Indian team management led by Gautam Gambhir. He believes these players have done well in domestic cricket and India A, which is why they deserve Test cricket.
“It’s very daunting because you’re ready to face a lot of challenges, but it’s beyond your control.” That’s how I see it. I seriously believe that domestic cricketers need to be rewarded,” said Karim.
“And here we are not just talking about domestic cricketers but also players who have performed well in the past while representing India A, which means they have been tested multiple times and that is why you have included them in the list. “of the testing team,” he added.
Saba Karim slams the voters
Saba Karim also criticized the select team for picking these players even though she didn’t think they were good enough to play. He appealed to voters to make a judgment without giving these players the proper opportunity.
“Logically, it makes sense to give them a chance whenever an opportunity presents itself. I find it strange that these two cricketers who are part of the squad were not even considered for selection. If that was the case, then why did you pick them in the first place?,” argued the former India wicketkeeper.
“If you weren’t sure whether their technical expertise would perform well in Australia, you should have gone with someone else. “I firmly believe that without trying them in these conditions, we can decide that they are not good enough for these conditions?” he asked.
While KL Rahul was preferred over Abhimanyu Easwaran due to his previous playing experience in Australia, India chose young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy over Sarfaraz Khan. Reddy proved to be one of the showpieces of the series as he shone with the bat and delivered some outstanding shots under pressure.
“Tough on Abhimanyu and Sarfaraz” – Saba Karim
Saba Karim described the selection decision over Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan as quite tough. He reminded the selectors of Sarfaraz’s win against New Zealand in Bengaluru where he scored a magnificent hundred under pressure.
“It was tough against Abhimanyu (Easwaran) and Sarfaraz (Khan). “Sarfaraz had two Test matches before reaching a hundred in Bengaluru where the rest of the team except Rishabh Pant struggled,” Karim explained.
“And after that he played two test matches and both games were about changing ranks. Forget Sarfaraz, none of the other Indian batters scored runs. When I think about that, I don’t understand this decision,” he added.
Both Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have scored numerous runs in first-class cricket and have also been regular players for India A. Sarfaraz has scored 4593 runs in 54 matches at an average of 65.61 with 16 hundreds and 14 fifties.
Sarfaraz Khan has played six Tests and scored 371 runs at an average of 37.10. On the other hand, Abhimanyu Easwaran has scored 7674 runs in 101 matches at an average of 48.87 with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.
