Saba Karim, the former goalkeeper of the Indian national team, expressed harsh opinions Gautam Gambhir and for not giving a chance to Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy by the Indian team management.
Karim feels Sarfaraz and Easwaran have played enough domestic cricket and are ready to play Test cricket. Both these players were in India’s squad for the Test series He faced Australia but did not win a game.
While Sarfaraz has already made his debut for India, Easwaran is yet to play an international match. Easwaran was all set to make his Test debut before the series when Rohit Sharma was absent from the first Test. However, the Indian team management chose KL Rahul as the opener to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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Saba Karim criticized for not giving Gautam Gambhir, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran a chance.
Speaking to Sportstar, Saba Karim was disappointed with the treatment of Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran by the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management. He believes these players have done well in domestic cricket and India A, which makes them eligible for Test cricket.
“It’s very frustrating because a person is prepared to face a lot of problems, but it’s something that is out of their control. That’s how I look at it. I strongly believe that local cricketers should be rewarded,” said Karim.
“And here we are not only talking about domestic cricketers but players who have done well in the past while representing India A, which means they have been tested many times and that is why you have accepted them as part of the Test team,” he said.
Saba Karim is shocking the voters
Saba Karim later criticized the selectors for choosing these players even though they didn’t think they were good enough to play. He urged the selectors to judge these players without giving them a proper opportunity.
“Logically, it makes sense to give them an opportunity when the opportunity arises. I find it strange that these two cricketers who are part of the squad are not even considered for selection. If so, why did you choose them in the first place?” The former India wicketkeeper argued.
“If you’re not sure of their technical expertise to do well in Australia, then you should have taken someone else. I feel very strongly that without testing them under these conditions, how can we decide that they are not good enough for these conditions?” – he asked.
While KL Rahul was chosen over Abhimanyu Easwaran based on his previous playing experience in Australia, India opted for the young all-rounder. Nitish Kumar Reddy Instead of Sarfaraz Khan. Reddy emerged as one of the finds of the series as he shone with the bat and played some excellent knocks under pressure.
“Harsh about Abhimanyu and Sarfaraz” – Saba Karim
Saba Karim called the selection decision quite harsh on Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan. He reminded the selectors of Sarfaraz’s knock against New Zealand in Bengaluru where he scored a magnificent hundred under pressure.
“He was tough on Abhimanyu (Easwaran) and Sarfaraz (Khana). Sarfaraz played two Test matches before reaching his hundred in Bengaluru, where the rest of the team struggled, except Rishabh pants“, – Karim explained.
“And after that he played two test matches and both of those matches were against ranked players. Forget Sarfaraz, none of the other Indians scored runs. So, with that in mind, I don’t understand the decision,” he added. .
Both Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have scored plenty of runs in first-class cricket and have been regulars for India A as well. Sarfaraz scored 4593 runs, 16 hundreds and 14 fifties at an average of 65.61 in 54 matches.
Sarfaraz Khan played six Tests and scored 371 runs at an average of 37.10. On the other hand, Abhimanyu Easwaran scored 7674 runs in 101 matches at an average of 48.87 with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.
