Explained: Why BCCI excluded Sarfaraz Khan from India-A squad for South Africa-A series

Sarfaraz Khan has been ignored for SA-A series [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/X]

In a significant development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named the India-A squad for the upcoming four-day matches against South Africa-A. While swashbuckling batter Rishabh Pant made his comeback after recovering from a toe injury, the board, in a very surprising move excluded Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan from the team. 

Is Sarfaraz Khan's fitness concern a reason behind India-A ouster?

Sarfaraz Khan was one of the best performers for India-A against England-A in a series that was played just before the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Sarfaraz scored 92 runs in one inning, where he rescued the Indian side with Karun Nair after a shaky start under tricky batting conditions. 

The Mumbaikar had a magnificent start to the domestic season, scoring a hundred in the Buchi Babu Trophy before picking up a quadriceps injury that sidelined him from the Duleep Trophy. However, as things stand, the right-handed batter has recovered from it and is representing Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. 

In fact, Sarfaraz is absolutely fit and fine and scored 74 runs across two innings in Mumbai's first Ranji Trophy match against Jammu & Kashmir. So, his fitness is absolutely not the reason why he has been excluded from the Indian A side for the South Africa series. 

Factors that led to Sarfaraz Khan's ouster from IND-A squad

The rise of Rajat Patidar

(Patidar's red-hot form in 2025 domestic season)

While Sarfaraz Khan was recovering from the injury, Rajat Patidar slammed a truckload of runs, boosting his Test comeback chances. The MP batter hammered 458 runs in the Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy combined before registering a double hundred in the first Ranji Trophy match against Punjab. 

Rajat Patidar is at the peak of his prowess and it's natural from the Indian team's perspective to give him another chance in the longest format. So, by choosing Patidar as a middle-order batter over Sarfaraz, the BCCI made it quite clear that the MP captain is in the mix of things for a Test comeback. 

Current Test team members preferred

While Patidar was included in India-A squad on the back of his solid performances, the BCCI named Jagadeesan, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel as specialist batters. 

These players are the members of the Indian Test side and will most likely play the upcoming series against South Africa. As the BCCI wanted to ensure sufficient game time for its core players, Sarfaraz found himself out of the side. 

All-rounders picked over specialist batters

With Ravichandran Ashwin retiring from Tests and Ravindra Jadeja being at the twilight of his career, India are trying to groom several all-round options as their successors. 

While Axar Patel and Washington Sundar remain integral members of the Test side, the inclusion of Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain is meant to not only reward them for their domestic exploits but also pick the best available spin-bowling all-rounder for the future. Therefore, Sarfaraz, a pure batter, had to miss out, with multi-dimensional players getting the management's backing. 

The road ahead for Sarfaraz Khan

Sarfaraz Khan is a proven run-machine in domestic cricket. He has just made his comeback from a quadriceps injury and yet to regain his mojo after a long layoff. He has the entire Ranji Trophy season to prove his mettle and bang the Test selection doors once again. 

So, the Mumbaikar must not feel hard done by and keep grinding at the domestic level to earn his place again in the Indian Test side. 

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