Fact Check: Was Sarfaraz Khan’s aggressive celebration aimed at the Team India selector?

India’s young batting sensation Sarfaraz Khan has yet again failed to impress the Team India selectors to make it to the Test squad for the upcoming tour of West Indies. Various reports suggest that Sarfaraz’s ouster is linked to fitness and disciplinary issues, but PTI sources in Mumbai say there is no truth to those reports.

Sarfaraz once again hit the headlines after his aggressive celebration towards his dressing room in the Ranji tie against Delhi. It was as if Sarfaraz was taking a jibe at one of the selectors watching the game. (Sunil Gavaskar criticizes decision to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as Test vice-captain, picks 3 Indian players for future Test captaincy)

“Sarfaraz’s celebration during a Ranji match in Delhi was down to his teammates and coach Amol Muzumdar, who took off his cap. The selector was Salil Ankola, not Chetan Sharma. Sarfaraz got the team out of a pressure situation and celebrated Relief,” sources close to the cricketer told PTI on Monday.

“Is it wrong to be high in your celebration and that too when you are pointing to your dressing room?” The source said.

The mystery is still unsolved as to why Sarfaraz is not being selected in the Test team despite scoring a lot of runs. Talking about the fitness criteria, the demand of the current Indian team is 16.5 and if we look at Sarfaraz’s cricket fitness, he has crossed this mark. He has batted for two days and fielded for two days on many occasions.

Legendary Indian batsman and now commentator Sunil Gavaskar also said that the selectors have not taken into account the Ranji Trophy performances of someone like Khan.

“Sarfaraz Khan is averaging 100 for the last three seasons. What does he have to do to get picked? He may not be in the playing XI, but you pick him,” he said.

WI vs IND 2023: Full Indian Test squad

Batsmen: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain)

Wicketkeepers: KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan

All-rounders: R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Akshar Patel

Bowler: Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.