The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has been subject to huge bashing and is on the constant target of many since the past few days for not picking Ranji Trophy sensation Sarfaraz Khan in the Indian team that will visit West Indies for a multi-format series. Among all, legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar had also blasted out on the Indian board for overlooking Sarfaraz despite his consistent performances in the domestic circuit.
Sarfaraz even himself shared a cheeky response for selectors on his Instagram story after being snubbed by them. The story of the Mumbai cricketer depicted his stats in first-class cricket which further fueled the controversy as many came out in his support. However, a BCCI official has now shed light on the reasons behind Sarfaraz getting repeatedly ignored by the Indian management.
Speaking to PTI, the BCCI official privy to selection developments cited ‘below-par fitness’ and ‘off-field conduct’ as the reasons for the board overlooking Sarfaraz. He further dismissed the claims of Indian Premier League (IPL) performances playing a role in player selection by using the examples of Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari.
“The angry reactions are understandable but I can tell you with some degree of certainty that the reason behind Sarfaraz getting ignored time and again is not just cricketing one. There are multiple reasons for which he hasn’t been considered. Are the selectors fools to not consider a player who has scored 900 plus runs in successive seasons? One of the reason is his fitness which isn’t exactly of international standard. He has to work hard, maybe shed weight and comeback leaner and fitter as it’s not just batting fitness that is sole criteria for selection,” said the official.
“That’s a perception built by media. Do you think there could be any cricketing reason? When Mayank Agarwal broke into Indian Test team, he scored 1000 first class runs in one month. Did MSK Prasad’s committee check his IPL credentials? Ditto for Hanuma Vihari, who came through domestic and A team ranks. If their IPL and white ball record wasn’t checked then, why would SS Das’s committee reinvent the wheel now? Simple. The reason is not a cricketing one,” he added.
