When the Indian squad for the two first-class games against South Africa A was announced yesterday, more than the return of fit-again Rishabh Pant, the omission of Sarfaraz Khan once again sparked off debates on social media.
Pant, who sustained a foot fracture in England earlier this year and missed the Asia Cup and the Test series against the West Indies, has been appointed the India A skipper. With players such as KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna set to play alongside others, it was a surprise to many that Khan, despite performing well this year, failed to find a spot in the squad.
Congress leader and spokesperson Shama Mohamed was one of those who took to X to express her displeasure with the continued snubbing of Khan. She also took a dig at head coach Gautam Gambhir, a former BJP MLA, over targeting the player because of his “surname”.
Is Sarfaraz Khan not selected because of his surname ! #justasking . We know where Gautam Gambhir stands on that matter
— Dr. Shama Mohamed (@drshamamohd) October 22, 2025
Mohamed had courted controversy earlier, with the most recent one being for a post on X calling Rohit Sharma “fat” and an “unimpressive captain”, which she was forced to delete later.
Will Sarfaraz Khan bat at no. 3 to improve chances of selection?
Khan, a middle-order batter, had scored a valuable 92 against England Lions in Canterbury this year but was injured soon after. He shed weight and came back leaner and fitter, but even then failed to find a place in the India A squad.
But, is his batting position preventing his selection?
India are spoilt for choice in the lower middle order, with a slew of all-rounders such as Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy. With Pant likely to bat at number 5, and the opening slots (Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul) and number 4 slot (Shubman Gill) almost locked, one-down seems to be the only vacant spot in the batting order. India are yet to zero in on the number 3 batter, though Sudharshan has been tried out. The left-hander is likely to play in that position in both the India A matches, too.
Khan will have tough competition from players such as Rajat Patidar and Ruturaj Gaikwad. The former has hit three hundreds, including a double century and three fifties in eight innings in the last five first-class games – two Duleep, Irani and the opening Ranji Trophy match. Gaikwad, on the other hand, scored one century (184), a 91 and another half-century in his last three first-class matches.
