By Shamik Chakrabarty in Mumbai
On the face of it, this is a David versus Goliath battle. Mumbai are Indian cricket’s royalty. Chhattisgarh, despite boasting the experience of Shashank Singh and Aditya Sarwate, are minnows. The Ranji Trophy match, starting on Saturday, however, will keep a player under the lens. Sarfaraz Khan, rather his India A omission, is talk of the town at the moment.
Sarfaraz was present at Mumbai’s training at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) on the match eve. His calm exterior barely revealed anything. Deep inside, the 27-year-old must be hurting. The challenge for him would be to come up with a response. Sarfaraz knows that runs in domestic cricket would be his only currency to make the Indian team door ajar. He is not part of the India A squads for the two upcoming multi-day matches against South Africa A. But there’s always a tomorrow.
Sarfaraz is lucky to have someone like Shardul Thakur as his captain. Shardul is a Mumbai maidans thoroughbred who has gone through many ups and downs. Sarfaraz is obviously disappointed. What would be the skipper’s advice to his teammate?
“I think nowadays in India A side, they (selectors) look at boys, they want to prepare for international cricket,” Shardul told reporters after Mumbai’s practice session on Friday. “I think Sarfaraz doesn’t need India A games to play international cricket. If he gets back to scoring again, I mean because he is coming from (an) injury lay-off, I am making this statement.”
Shardul spoke about how runs would be all-important for Sarfaraz to present his case before the national selectors. “He scored two-three centuries in Buchi Babu (tournament) also, before getting injured,” the senior all-rounder pointed out. Coming back to (the Ranji Trophy), against Jammu and Kashmir also, he had a nice 40. He unfortunately got run out. For him, though, I don’t think playing India A is important. If he scores runs (in Ranji Trophy), he can straightaway go and play (the) Test series (against South Africa).”
With Rishabh Pant coming back to the fold in the home Tests against South Africa, India’s middle-order doesn’t seem to have a vacancy. But the No. 3 position remains up for grabs, notwithstanding that the Indian team management has decided to give Sai Sudharsan an extended run there. Sai has time on his side to get into the groove, but given the competition, he can’t afford failures. There’s a school of thought that Sarfaraz, who has an average north of 110 in first-class cricket over the last five years, should bat at No. 3 for Mumbai. Runs in that position might make things easier for him to get into the Indian team.
Shardul, however, ruled out the possibility of a change in the Mumbai batting order. “Regarding our batting line-up, I think it is set,” he said. As regards the opportunities in the Indian team, he added: “If you are not performing at your best, there are quite a few good players who are sitting on the bench, who will be trying to grab your spot. So, I don’t think apart from the captain, anyone is safe out there.”
Discourses on social media would tell you that Sarfaraz’s India A snub has turned political with a communal overtone. Shardul was asked about that at the pre-match press conference and understandably he chose to be politically correct. “I’m not aware of any political (controversy). I don’t know,” the Mumbai captain signed off.
Ranji Trophy: Mumbai vs Chhattisgarh (BKC, Mumbai; October 25-28)
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