Former South African player AB de Villiers expressed his happiness at Sarfaraz Khan earning his maiden India call-up after being included to India’s squad for the second Test of the ongoing five-match home series against England as well.
Sharing Sarfaraz’s stunning record in first-class cricket, the former South African captain said that the youngster deserves to be in India’s Test side.
Hoping that the youngster gets to make his Test debut against England, the veteran said in his latest YouTube video: “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. 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.”
Notably, India announced Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar and Sourabh Kumar as replacements after senior players KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were ruled out of the second Test due to their injury scares as well. Moreover, Team India faced a heartbreaking 28-run defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad.
AB de Villiers stated: “It can only be Kuldeep Yadav, who doesn’t offer as much with the bat or in the field, but he does have a lot of X-factor with the ball in hand. He maybe gives India a little bit of extra variation with the bowling department because you had Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja there, two left-arm spinners.”
“I don’t think we all understand how big a loss Ravindra Jadeja is going into the second Test match. The guy is a superstar. I thought he would do more in that first Test match first of all, but generally speaking, he is fast, wicket-to-wicket and some of the balls turn and some don’t. With the ball in hand, we have seen him take 10-fers and 5-fers under pressure. He is not easy to replace. Incredible in the field, he is fast, helps the captain, and gets you run outs, but the big loss, I think, is with the bat in hand,” he concluded.
The second Test between India and England will take place at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam from February 2 to 6.
