Sarfaraz Khan Told To "Forget The Past" As He Rejoins Coach Gautam Gambhir In Indian Team
Sarfaraz Khan returns to the Indian Test team for the Sri Lanka Test series, having last featured in 2024.
There still remain a few unanswered questions over Sarfaraz Khan's long absence from the Indian team. Sarfaraz remained an unused player for India on the tour of Australia in the 2024-25 season before being dropped. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee kept him off the roster for one and a half years before handing him a recall to the national team for the Sri Lanka Test series, as a replacement for the injured B Sai Sudharsan. As Sarfaraz prepares for the second innings of his Test career, former India batter Mohammad Kaif has advised him to forget what happened in the past, amid rumours of an issue between him and head coach Gambhir.
Sarfaraz's return to the Test fold has enthralled many experts of the game. Kaif said that he salutes the person responsible for bringing the middle-order batter back to the team, be it the coach, captain or selectors.
"I feel that whoever convinced the decision-makers, whether it was the BCCI, the selectors, the coaches or the captain, whoever said that Sarfaraz Khan should be brought back for Sri Lanka because the pitches could be spin-friendly, and he plays spin well and could contribute to India winning there, whoever spoke along those lines, I salute that person," Kaif said on a video on his YouTube channel.
Moving on, Kaif wants Sarfaraz to forget what happened in the past and focus on how he can take his own career and Indian cricket forward.
"Forget whatever happened in the past. Indian cricket should not suffer because of it. Take decisions that ensure the Indian team keeps winning, keeps progressing and keeps moving forward in a dominant manner. So, whoever has taken this decision, my first reaction is to wish them the very best because someone must have brought up his name."
Many fans and experts had questioned the Gautam Gambhir-led team management for leaving Sarfaraz out of the Test team without giving him a consistent run. Kaif admitted that the complexity of the situation led to rumours being triggered.
"He didn't get consistent opportunities in the team and was even dropped without any explanation. All these things led to rumours and raised several questions: Why isn't Sarfaraz Khan's name coming up? Tell us the reason. Why isn't he playing? No reason was given. His name wasn't even coming up for India A. All these things happened in between," said Kaif.
"There must have been some reason why he wasn't played earlier. Obviously, it wasn't because he wasn't scoring runs or because his bat wasn't working. He scored runs against New Zealand, including that 150-run innings, and was playing well and was in form. He also scored against England in the debut Test match, so his start was quite good," he added.
India Cricket Team
Gautam Gambhir