Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has criticized head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar regarding their selections for the upcoming England tour, particularly highlighting the exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan. Despite Sarfaraz’s remarkable domestic performance, which included a score of 150 against New Zealand, he was substituted by Karun Nair. Manjrekar voiced his concerns about the selectors’ inclination to forecast player performance instead of making selections based on merit. Former India star Sanjay Manjrekar has taken head coach Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar, the BCCI’s Chairman of Selectors for the Men’s cricket team, to task for attempting to anticipate player performances while selecting the Indian squad, particularly regarding the recent selections for the England tour commencing on June 20, 2025. Manjrekar underscored the troubling trend by emphasizing Sarfaraz Khan’s unexpected exclusion from the Test squad. The selectors opted for Karun Nair and Sai Sudharshan in the 18-member squad, making Sarfaraz the evident casualty. “In the current leadership of Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir, with a new captain seemingly having minimal influence, I observe a selection style that is both intriguing and somewhat concerning. Under Gambhir’s guidance and with Rohit no longer present, I perceive a tendency within this management to pre-empt individual performances during selections. The prevailing thought appears to be to impose their own perspectives on the probable success and failure of players based on conditions and opposition,” Manjrekar articulated in his column for Hindustan Times. Sarfaraz last represented India in the home series against New Zealand, where he achieved an impressive score of 150 in the first Test in Bengaluru. Although he did not score significantly in the second and third Tests, neither did the rest of the Indian batting lineup. India’s subsequent Test assignment was against Australia on their home turf, but the 27-year-old was unable to secure a place in the playing XI for any of the five Test matches.
Consider the case of Sarfraz Khan. He has achieved three fifties and a score of 150 at home across four Tests, yet he has faced failures in just four innings since then, resulting in him not being selected for a single match in Australia. Similarly, for the tour to England, he has been excluded despite his recent performances significantly surpassing those of Karun Nair. Therefore, this decision regarding his non-selection is not based on performance; rather, it stems from a belief held by someone influential in the leadership group that Sarfraz will struggle to score runs in England and Australia, while Karun Nair will succeed,” the 59-year-old astutely observed. This assertion may indeed prove to be accurate, but it remains a rather uncertain prediction, does it not? Throughout the years, this sport has astonished us countless times when players have exceeded expectations when we least anticipated it. For instance, Nitish Kumar Reddy in Australia,” he contended. Shubman Gill has been appointed as the new Test captain for India following Rohit Sharma’s decision to retire from the longest format of the game. Whether this retirement was compelled is a matter for another discussion, but Gill’s selection as captain surprised many, particularly given that his position in the playing XI was not assured in the previous series against Australia. Regarding Gill’s appointment as captain for India, Manjrekar believes that the selectors have made a significant gamble on the 25-year-old Indian batter, a choice that Gambhir likely would not have opposed, especially in light of Rohit’s exit. “The selectors have indeed placed a substantial bet on Gill as captain. I can’t help but think that Gambhir would not have been against this decision; he would prefer a young, inexperienced captain over a senior great (Bumrah) to lead, particularly after Rohit,” he remarked.
