Vaibhav Tripathi
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has voiced his dissatisfaction with the squad selection for the upcoming tour of West Indies, specifically the Test team. Jaffer raised concerns about the exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Priyank Panchal from the red-ball squad. He also expressed surprise at Ruturaj Gaikwad’s inclusion ahead of other deserving candidates.
On Friday, June 23, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Test and ODI squads for the multi-format tour of West Indies. While Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar earned their maiden call-ups to the Test team, Sarfaraz continued to be overlooked. Additionally, prolific domestic openers Easwaran and Panchal were left out of the squad, raising eyebrows among cricket enthusiasts.
“What’s the need for four openers? (Rohit, Shubman Gill, Gaikwad and Jaiswal) Instead, they could have picked Sarfaraz as an extra middle order bat to honour his consistent domestic performances. Easwaran and Panchal have been doing the hard yards in Ranji and India A, knocking on Test doors for a long time. Just because they don’t play IPL, is it a case of out of sight, out of mind? How did Ruturaj jump the queue?” Wasim Jaffer wrote in his post.