Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman 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 Iswaran have played a fair amount 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 cap.
While Sarfaraz has made his debut for India, Iswaran is yet to play an international match. Easwaran was in line to make his Test debut ahead of the series when Rohit Sharma was absent from the first Test. However, the Indian team management picked KL Rahul as the opening batsman to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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Saba Karim criticized Gautam Gambhir for not giving chances to Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Iswaran
While speaking to Sportstar, Saba Karim expressed her disappointment over the way Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran were treated by the Indian team management led by Gautam Gambhir. He believes that these players have done well in domestic and India A cricket, which makes them worthy of Test cricket.
“It is very frustrating because one is prepared to face so many challenges, but this is something that is out of one's control. That's the way I look at it. I seriously think local cricketers need to be rewarded,” Karim said.
“Here, we are not just talking about domestic cricketers, but also about players who have performed well while representing India A in the past, which means they have been Tested multiple times, which is why I have selected them as part of the Test squad,” he added.
Saba Karim criticizes the selectors
Saba Karim also criticized the selectors for selecting these players despite not considering them good enough to play. He called on the selectors to issue a ruling without giving these players the appropriate opportunity.
“Logically, it makes sense to give them a chance whenever the opportunity arises. I find it strange that these two cricketers who are part of the team were not even selected. If that is the case, why did you pick them in the first place?” the former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman argued.
“If you're not sure of their technical experience to perform well in Australia, you should gladly accept someone else. I feel strongly that without their experience in those conditions, how can we decide they're not good enough for those conditions?” he asked.
While KL Rahul was chosen over Abhimanyu Easwaran based on his previous playing experience in Australia, India chose young pacer Nitish Kumar Reddy instead of Sarfaraz Khan. Reddy emerged as one of the revelations of the series as he excelled with the bat and played some brilliant knocks under pressure.
“Tough on Abhimanyu and Sarfaraz” – Saba Karim
Saba Karim described the casting decision as very tough for Abhimanyu Iswaran and Sarfaraz Khan. He reminded the selectors of Sarfaraz's knock against New Zealand in Bengaluru where he scored a brilliant hundred under pressure.
It has been tough for Abhimanyu (Easwaran) and Sarfaraz (Khan). Karim explained that Sarfraz played two Test matches before reaching his hundred in Bengaluru, where the rest of the team struggled, except for Rishabh Pant.
“And after that, he played two Test matches and both matches were in good form. Forget about Sarfaraz, none of the other Indian batsmen have scored runs. So, keeping that in mind, I don't understand this decision,” he added. .
Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran both scored a lot of runs in first-class cricket and were regulars in the India A team as well. Sarfraz scored 4593 runs in 54 matches at an average of 65.61 with 16 hundreds and 14 fifties.
Sarfaraz Khan played six Tests and scored 371 runs at an average of 37.10. In contrast, Abhimanyu Iswaran scored 7674 runs in 101 matches at an average of 48.87 with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.
