"Let's not try and play God too much" - Former batter slams Indian management's treatment of Sarfaraz Khan in BGT 2024-25

Former batter Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned the Indian management's decision to not play Sarfaraz Khan in a single Test during the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Admitting that there were question marks over his technique, the 59-year-old opined that it was not fair to arrive at a conclusion without giving the Mumbai batter a chance.

Despite India's batting woes, Sarfaraz did not play a single match in BGT 2024-25. KL Rahul played all five Tests, while Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel played one Test match each.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar was critical of the Indian management's policy of completely ignoring Sarfaraz's case. He stated:

"Sarafaraz Khan was rewarded for his tremendous record at the first-class level. He got three fifties and a 150 and got out terribly in the next Test. But then, he was completely dumped. I don't think that's right even if you feel that Sarfaraz Khan might not succeed on these kinds of pitches.

"What if he had found a way to get runs, with the third man being his main scoring area. It was a revelation how he played against England. Let's not try and play God too much. May be just watch a little bit. Be concerned about how they'll shape up at the highest level. But you’ve got to reward people who have got runs," the former India cricketer added.

Like Sarfaraz, Manjrekar felt that the Indian management also had a premeditated mindset that Abhimanyu Easwaran would fail after watching him struggle for India A against Australia A. The 59-year-old opined:

"There was a lot of pre-emption. A lot of people were playing God with Abhimanyu Easwaran, watching him in a warm-up game and thinking he's not going to get runs. That is not a good way to look at things because cricket springs you surprises."

Giving the example of Virender Sehwag's unexpected success as Test opener, Manjrekar stressed that cricketers should only be judged on the basis of their performance. He commented:

"There was Virender Sehwag batting down at No. 5 and No. 6 and then opening at the Test level and becoming one of India's greatest Test openers."

While not giving a single opportunity to Sarfaraz or Easwaran, India backed players like Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who could contribute with both bat and ball.

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Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have impressive first-class records

If we look at the first-class record of Sarfaraz, the 27-year-old has featured in 54 matches and has scored 4,593 runs at an excellent average of 65.61, with the aid of 16 hundreds and 14 fifties. The right-hander has a best of 301*.

Easwaran (29) is yet to make his Test debut for India. In 101 first-class games, he has scored 7,674 runs at an average of 48.87, with 27 tons and 29 fifties and a best of 233.