By Admin 
The cricketing fraternity has been divided over the omission of Sarfaraz Khan from the India-A squad for the home series against South Africa-A.
However, Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur made it clear that a seasoned campaigner like Sarfaraz does not need the India-A platform to prove his mettle.
“Nowadays, for the India-A side, they (the selectors) look at boys, who they want to prepare for international cricket. Sarfaraz doesn’t need India-A game to play international cricket. If he gets back to scoring again, he can straight away go and play (the) Test series,” Shardul said.
“He is coming from (an) injury lay-off. But before that, he scored two centuries in the Buchi Babu Trophy. And coming back against J&K in the previous match, he had a nice 40 (sic). It was very unfortunate to have gotten run out. I don’t think playing India-A is important for him,” Shardul said on Friday.
Mumba captain Shardul Thakur.
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EMMANUAL YOGINI
In the last match that Sarfaraz played for India-A, he scored 92 against England Lions in Canterbury. While the series was a build-up to the five-Test series against England, the 28-year-old wasn’t part of India’s Test side.
And now, with the Indian team finding it difficult to look for a steady No.3 option, there have been suggestions that Sarfaraz should play higher up the order for Mumbai. However, Shardul insisted that there wouldn’t be any tweaks to the already ‘set batting line-up’.
However, he expected Sarfaraz to find his mojo as the Ranji Trophy season progressed. “He is a senior pro and he is someone who always delivers in crunch situations. He has big scores of 200-250s and those innings have come when the team was two or three down quite early in the inning. So, to play that kind of innings under pressure, you have to have something special in you. He is one of the special players who never disappoints to perform and put up big scores. He has done it for years and years. Regardless of which number he bats, I think he will deliver,” added Shardul.