Sarfaraz Khan has done enough to warrant a place in Indian team but there should be a vacancy also: Abhinav Mukund

With his recent performances with the bat, Sarfaraz Khan has become one of the major talking points in Indian cricket at the moment. The Mumbaikar has been constantly knocking on doors of the Test team with his incredible performances in domestic cricket. He has already scored 556 runs in 6 matches at a sublime average of 92.67 in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. It’s not just this season, but he has been scoring a plethora of runs for the past couple of years. He was the leading run-getter in 2021-22 Ranji season where he amassed 982 runs in just 9 innings at a Bradman-Esque average of 122.75.

In the last three Ranji Trophy editions, he has scored 2,446 runs but all of this has not been enough to get a senior team call-up. The Indian team dropped senior Ajinkya Rahane from the Test side last year which opened a vacant spot in the Test side however, Shreyas Iyer didn’t waste much time cementing his place at the number 5 spot.

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz’s recent snub for the first two Test matches against Australia has put the Indian selectors once again under the scanner. The Chetan Sharma-led selection committee picked ICC number 1 ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav over Sarfaraz.

The recent selection calls have put some doubts over the credentials of Ranji Trophy performances to get a place in the Indian Test team.

During an exclusive conversation with News18 CricketNext, domestic cricket stalwart Abhinav Mukund talked about Sarfaraz failing to get a senior team call-up despite his prolific show in Ranji Trophy. Mukund suggested that Sarfaraz deserves a place on the Test side but he also pointed out that the selectors are not completely ignoring the

“I don’t think so. I think Sarfaraz should be there. Let’s keep that point straight. I think Sarfaraz has done enough to warrant a place in the Indian team. But, if you look at Ranji performances not being rewarded in this case, yes. But if you look at Jaydev Unadkat, they drafted him into the team after the sensational Ranji trophy in the last two or three years,” Mukund told News18 CricketNext.

Mukund asserted that it’s also important to have a vacancy in the side to get a place as he also talks about SKY inclusion on the side.

“So, I think it’s just a case of the vacancies and the positions available. They’ve gone with a call that they feel is right for the first two tests by bringing in Suryakumar Yadav. I may or may not agree with that, but the thing is, there needs to be an opening for you to get in. You can score thousands of runs, but if someone else is doing really well there the it’s very difficult for you to, there should be a vacancy for you to get a job, right? Yeah. It’s just like that,” he said.

Another serious worry for the Indian team is Rishabh Pant’s recent unfortunate car accident which has left a huge void in the Test side as the management has to take a tough call regarding their glovesman for Australia Tests and the race is between Bharat and Ishan Kishan.

Mukund, who was also part of India’s squad for 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, feels that Bharat deserves a place in the XI for the first Test match against Australia as he was the backup option for Pant when Wriddhiman Saha was dropped from the side.

Talking about both wicketkeeping options available, Mukund suggested that Bharat scores at a good pace in red-ball cricket while Kishan also has a chance to find a place in the XI if India feel that there is a need for a left-hander in the batting order as Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness is still a big concern.

“Actually, flamboyance can be associated with KS Bharat also, to be very honest. He actually plays at a very fast pace when he plays red-ball cricket. I’ve seen a lot. By route by order. I feel it should be KS Bharat because ever since Saha was ousted and Pant became number one, Bharat has been his number two for a while. So, in that order, I think Bharat is the straight-up option. But if you look at it more deeply then there is only one left-hander in the line-up,” Mukund said.

“Right now, which is Ishan Kishan. So everyone else are right-handers. So in that order, if the team feels they need a left-hander, unless otherwise, Jadeja gets fit, which we will know very soon then if they require a left-hander, then in the top five, top six, it could be Ishan Kishan,” the southpaw added.

Mukund, who has scored 10258 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 47.93, also talked about Shikhar Dhawan’s future in the ODI set-up. He suggested that the veteran opener can still make a comeback after a good IPL season which Dinesh Karthik also managed to do last year.

“You know what, I said this about my good friend Dinesh Karthik, that it was his end of the road and he ended up playing in the T20 World Cup. So it can never be end of the road for anybody. You never know, one good IPL season suddenly he is back in the radar. Yeah. Never shut their doors or shut doors or anybody like that,” Dhawan said.

The veteran Tamil Nadu opener is currently donning the commentator’s hat for the ongoing SA20 league as he feels that the inaugural T20 franchise tournament in South Africa has a lot of potential. Talking about his favourites to get a place in the playoffs, Mukund feels Pretoria Capitals have a strong chance after a bright start to the season.

“Well, it’s a very tight league. And as much as it hurts to say me, if you’re going to ask me my top four, I might have to leave out Johannesburg Super Kings. They’ve lost three and they seem to be missing Harry Brook a lot. But other than that, you can’t say because everyone’s very closely knit and it’s very hard to say who will qualify. Like only two teams will miss out. So I have a feeling any team has a chance to even make a comeback in this tournament. But right now Pretoria capitals look very solid to qualify, they have won three out of four and they look very solid to qualify. Durban Super Giants look good. Sunrises have beaten Mi Cape down twice. So I thought MI Cape Town were favorites. Doing win. Come on. They have a, they have, but even they’ve lost three,” he said.

He further talked about the possibility of BCCI allowing Indian players to play in overseas leagues. The southpaw put out some valid points regarding the injury concerns and tight schedule in recent times as he feels it’s not the ideal time for the Indian players to play in other leagues than IPL.

“It’s a double edge sword, right now that is also being spoken, but more recently, you’re speaking a lot more about injuries. So if you’re going to allow players to go play in franchise leagues, you are asking for more injuries as it is Indian cricket is struggling with an injury problem at the moment. Everyone seems to be getting injured, left, right, and center. So we don’t have, like the selectors announced at 20 (for ODI World Cup) and out of the 20. I don’t think they said they’ve picked out 20 for the ODI World Cup. But if you actually look at it, there are three, four guys who are out of the system already. So it’s going to, it’s going to take a while for BCCI to open up windows for overseas leagues for players to go play overseas leagues. But first, where is the time for the players? If, if people can figure that out, then I think it might just happen from the BCCI,” he said.

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