Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday heaped praise on Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan, who has been scoring heaps of runs consistently in domestic cricket over the past year but still hasn't made it to the Indian team.
The 25-year-old has amassed 556 runs in six matches in the Ranji Trophy this season at an average of over 92. He's smashed three centuries and a fifty in nine innings so far.
But despite this purple patch, the BCCI selectors overlooked the batter for India's upcoming home Tests against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series 2023.
Sarfaraz snubbed for Australia Tests
Sarfaraz himself expressed his disappointment at not getting picked in the Test squad as the selectors chose Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan for the first-two games of the series.
"Where do I begin about this batsma? Sarfaraz Khan. There is so much debate on whether he should get selected or not. But he is not caring about selection, guys. In the 2019-20 season, he scored 900 runs. In the 2020-21 season, another 900 runs.
"This season, he has scored almost 600 runs. He has made a strong statement with his sheer performances. He is averaging in excess of 100 in the last three seasons at a high strike-rate as well," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
'Sarfaraz burning selection doors'
BCCI selector Sridharan Sharath cited balance and composition as the reasons behind Sarfaraz's absence from the Indian team but Ashwin feels the selectors' door is about to get burned down by Sarfaraz very soon.
"Sarfaraz Khan is not just smashing on the selection doors. He is burning them. But unfortunately, he is not getting selected currently. Despite not getting selected, he played a terrific knock for Mumbai against Delhi, the game in which Mumbai lost," Ashwin said.
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