"Chandu sir treats him like a son" - Mystery of Sarfaraz Khan's non-selection deepens as new report trashes claims of indiscipline, lack of fitness

A day after claims that Sarfaraz Khan’s non-selection in Indian Test team had more to do with his lack of fitness and alleged discipline issues than on-field performance, a new report has Mumbai’s cricket community denying the allegations.

On Sunday, June 25, news agency PTI quoted a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official as saying that Sarfaraz was ignored for ‘non-cricketing’ reasons - fitness and discipline issues.

Now, the same news agency has quoted a source close to the Mumbai cricketer as saying that the claims made regarding the batter are a misconstrued version of events.

Regarding the allegation that Sarfaraz took a veiled dig at one of the selectors (who was present for a match) with his aggressive celebration after scoring a hundred against Delhi, the source told PTI:

"Sarfaraz's celebration during a Ranji match in Delhi was meant for his teammates and coach Amol Muzumdar, who had doffed his hat. The selector present was Salil Ankola and not Chetan Sharma. Sarfaraz took the team out of pressure situation and the celebration was one of relief.”

"Is it even wrong to be exalted in your celebration and that too when you are pointing towards your own dressing room," the source added.

On claims that Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit had also expressed dissatisfaction over Sarfaraz's attitude, the source contradicted the allegation and asserted that Pandit has a lot of affection for the 25-year-old. He elaborated:

"Chandu sir treats him like a son. He has always had good things to say about him and knows him since he was 14 years old. He would never be angry on Sarfaraz.”

A number of former Indian cricketers, including the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, have hit out at the BCCI selection committee for ignoring Sarfaraz’s case despite his exceptional performances in domestic cricket.

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Sarfaraz Khan’s extraordinary domestic numbers

Having made his first-class debut in December 2014, the right-handed batter has scored 3505 runs in 37 matches at an average of 79.65, with 13 hundreds and nine fifties.

Breaking down his numbers further, the Mumbai batter smashed 928 runs in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, 982 runs in the 2021-22 season, and 556 runs in the 2022-23 season.

Despite his tremendous showing, there was no place for Sarfaraz when the Test squad for the West Indies tour was announced. The selectors instead picked Ruturaj Gaikwad (first-class average of 42.19) and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who averages 80.21 in first-class cricket but has only played 15 matches.