“India will drop Sarfaraz Khan for the second Test against New Zealand”: Parthiv Patel makes bold prediction
Sarfaraz Khan was included in the Playing XI of the first Test against New Zealand after Shubman Gill suffered neck stiffness. He scored 150 in the second innings of Bengaluru; however, his position in the playing group for the Pune game is not confirmed as Gill is fit to play the second Test, and the team management is likely to continue with KL Rahul despite his twin failures.
Former player Parthiv Patel is sure that Sarfaraz will be dropped, and the team management will back Rahul for the upcoming game.
“I don’t think KL Rahul will be benched. The team management still values him, and that’s why his batting order was not changed. He could have easily batted at the No.3 slot instead of Virat Kohli but it didn’t happened.
“On the the hand, Sarfaraz was included in the playing XI as a replacement for Shubman, who is a No. 3 batter. With Gill returning to the Playing XI for the Pune Test, Sarfaraz is likely to sit out,” Parthiv Patel said on JioCinema.
However, Aakash Chopra was not convinced by Parthiv’s opinion. “I don’t think it is going to happen as the atmosphere in Indian cricket is important, and it is in favor of Sarfaraz Khan at the moment. KL Rahul is not looking confident, and you don’t want to repeat the situation of Karun Nair, who was dropped from the Playing XI despite scoring a triple hundred against England in the previous game.
“He was not included in the team to accommodate Ajinkya Rahane in the playing group. This impacted Nair as he didn’t get continuity in his career and faded away after some matches. For me, Sarfaraz Khan will play,” Aakash Chopra said.
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