“It is a tough call” - Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Sarfaraz Khan being axed for England tour

Sunil Gavaskar calls Sarfaraz Khan's exclusion from India's Test squad for England a "tough call." He urges Sarfaraz to make himself "undroppable" despite recent injuries and lack of red-ball cricket.

By Jack 25 May 2025 in Cricket

New Update

Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Sarfaraz Khan being axed for England tour

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has opened up on Indian batter Sarfaraz Khan not getting picked for the England Test tour, starting on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds in the new World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle.

While players like Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan received call-ups, the five-match Test series will not see a batter like Sarfaraz Khan, who couldn’t take part in the Ranji Trophy earlier this year due to an injury.

While Sarfaraz made his Test debut against England in February last year, he made it to the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against Australia as well. However, he wasn’t part of the playing XI in all five games of the series.

"It's tough, that's what cricket is all about. When you get opportunities, you have to make sure the place is yours. Even if you score a hundred, you should make sure that you don't go into your next innings thinking you scored a hundred in the previous knock. You have to get your eye in and get those runs again. You must not give anybody a chance to push you out of the team," Sunil Gavaskar told India Today.

"I think it's a tough call because after the tour of Australia, there was no red-ball cricket. Yes, there was the Ranji Trophy, but he was injured. So, he didn't play. There was no way he could show what his form was,” he added.

"You have to be undroppable. We have seen in the past, if a team loses a series, the guys who are 13th, 14th, 15th in the squad get dropped. You have to take your chances," he stated.

India's Test squad for the England tour 2025:

Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.

Stay updated with the latest cricket news, match insights, and exclusive updates at Sky365 and download the Sky365 App to start betting today!