Former India opener and cricket analyst Wasim Jaffer suggested that Sarfaraz Khan’s exclusion from the Indian Test team could be due to reasons beyond cricket.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Jaffer pointed out that the Mumbai batter has continued to deliver consistent performances in domestic cricket despite being overlooked for selection. Notably, Sarfaraz last represented India in the 2024 home Test series against New Zealand.
“I feel there is definitely something. I feel that they don’t want to pick him. Otherwise, the performance is in front of us. He has 18 first-class hundreds in such a small career. I feel they don’t want to take him. I don’t know the reason, but I think it’s beyond performance and cricketing reasons,” Jaffer said on his YouTube channel.
“I just feel that they don’t want to pick Sarfaraz Khan, irrespective of how many runs he scores and what his average is. There can be nothing else apart from this,” Jaffer added.
In the 2026-27 Ranji Trophy season, Sarfaraz began with a modest one-run outing against Chandigarh before bouncing back in the second round with a superb 154 off 228 balls against Himachal Pradesh. Batting at No. 5, his knock helped Mumbai secure an emphatic innings-and-97-run victory.
Sarfaraz has scored 371 runs in 11 Test innings at an average of 37.10. He was also named as an injury replacement for Sai Sudharsan in India’s two-match away Test series against Sri Lanka in August 2026, but did not feature in the playing XI.
