Both Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan are yet to make their Test debuts for India. KL Rahul was ruled out of the second Test after he complained of right quadriceps pain.
New Delhi: Former South African captain AB de Villiers has weighed upon Sarfaraz Khan over Rajat Patidar to replace KL Rahul in the Indian side for the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam starting on Friday. Rahul, who scored 86 and 22 in the first game in Hyderabad, has been ruled out of the second match after the middle-order batter complained of right quadriceps pain in the same thigh that he got operated on last year.
Following Rahul’s injury, BCCI announced uncapped Sarfaraz as a replacement. However, Patidar has been with the Indian squad before the first Test after Virat Kohli opted himself out of the first two games citing personal reasons. Ideally, if seniority is to be looked at, Patidar deserves a chance on Friday since he has come into the team first. But for ABD, the vote goes to Sarfaraz because of his domestic heroics.
“It’s just very exciting for me. His record in first-class cricket is quite outstanding, and if there’s a guy that deserves it, it’s certainly him. He has played 66 innings, 3912 runs, and an average of 69.85. 14 hundreds and 11 fifties, guys, that is not normal,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
If consistency is to be concerned, Sarfaraz pips Patidar with his performances for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. The right-handed hard-hitting batter accumulated 928 runs in nine games at an average of 154.66 with three hundreds and two fifties in 2019-20 season. The next two seasons, Sarfaraz slammed 982 runs and 556 runs to stake a claim in front of selectors.
De Villiers stated that it will be a big jump for Sarfaraz from domestic cricket to international arena if me kaes his debut against England. “That is a very, very good first-class record. I know it’s a big jump up to international cricket against England, on the biggest stage, I hope he gets a chance because Rajat Patidar has also been playing well,” said de Villiers.