NEW DELHI: After being ignored for the India A series against South Africa A, Sarfaraz Khan failed to make an impact in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy match against Chhattisgarh as he fell for just one run.
The 28-year-old Sarfaraz's exclusion from India A squad triggered controversy with Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed questioning whether the Mumbai batter was not selected "because of his surname."
After his dismissal, Sarfaraz took to Instagram stories, sharing a clip of his TV playing the song "Restart" from the film 12th Fail. Behind the screen, his India Test cap and Mumbai cap could be seen, symbolising his determination to begin again.
Sarfaraz, who made his Test debut against England in the Rajkot Test of 2023-24 season, was a part of India's tour of Australia late last year but he has been ignored for the Test side since then.
After controversy erupted for his India A snub, Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur defended him saying he doesn't need India A exposure tours and series to play international cricket.
"Nowadays, for the India A side, they look at boys, who they want to prepare for international cricket," India all-rounder and Mumbai captain Thakur told the media.
"Sarfraz doesn't need India A game to play international cricket. If he gets back to scoring again, he can straight away go and play Test series also," he said.
Even as Sarfaraz failed to convert his starts in both the innings, Mumbai recorded their first-ever victory over Jammu and Kashmir in their first Ranji Trophy match.
"He is coming from injury lay-off. But before that, he scored two-three centuries in the Buchi Babu Trophy before getting injured.
"Coming back against J&K in the previous match, he had a nice 40 (42). It was very unfortunate to have been run out. But for him, I don't think playing India A is important," Thakur said.
