Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar did not mince any words, as he criticised the Indian think tank for sending Sarfaraz Khan at No.8 in the ongoing third and final Test between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The first session on Day 2, saw Ravindra Jadeja coming out to bat ahead of Sarfaraz Khan after the wicket of Rishabh Pant fell. The management would have probably sent Jadeja ahead of Sarfaraz in order to maintain the right-left combination, however, this move did not make sense to Manjrekar.
In his scathing criticism, Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out how Sarfaraz Khan is a batter in form and how he scored 150 runs in the second innings of the first Test, which was played in Bengaluru.
Manjrekar also said that Sarfaraz Khan is a very able batter against spin, hence, the call to send him low down the order, is all the more baffling.
“A guy in form, has 3 fifties in his first 3 Tests, gets 150 in the Bangalore Test, a good player of spin, pushed back in the order to keep left & right combination?? Makes no sense. Sarfraz now walking in at no 8! Poor call by India,” Manjrekar wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Sarfaraz Khan fails to get going
The right-handed Sarfaraz Khan was not able to open his account in the first innings of the ongoing third Test against New Zealand. The batter was dismissed for a duck, after he was unable to read the line and bounce of an Ajaz Patel delivery.
Sarfaraz Khan prodded defensively, but the ball touched his glove before going into the gloves of the wicketkeeper Tom Blundell. The 27-year-old lasted just four balls.
The second day of the ongoing Test started on a good note, as Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant counter-attacked to score runs at a brisk pace. The duo put on 96 runs for the fifth wicket, however, the stand came to an end in the 38th over as Ish Sodhi dismissed Pant (60).
Earlier, on Day 1, Ravindra Jadeja took five wickets to help India bundle out New Zealand for 235. The hosts then reached the score of 84/4 at stumps on the opening day of the crucial third Test.
India have already lost the series after suffering defeats in the opening two matches. Rohit Sharma and co now need to win four out of their remaining six matches, in order to make the World Test Championship (WTC) final without depending on other results.
