SKY, Ishan surprise call-up in Tests

CHENNAI: As the dust settled down, quite a few questions cropped up on the rationale behind selection of India squad for the all-important Australia Tests for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. As usual, the Indian cricket board released the names of the teams late and like previous occasions this time too there was no press conference.

One such point that seemed intriguing is the choice of Suryakumar Yadav ahead of someone like Sarafaraz Khan or for that matter Ishan Kisha. Yes, SKY has hit a purple patch and is in a scintillating, but for someone who has been ignored for the ODI series against Sri Lanka -- he was warming the bench, this came as a surprise.

Though he had had a very good Ranji seasons recently, Sarfaraz’s non selection seemed to veer around two points. It may sound harsh, but Sarfaraz has not capitalised enough on his India A call-up. Fitness is another issue selectors seemed to be concerned about. Take for instance, the Mumbai batter did not convert his starts in the India A series against New Zealand. Barring the century against South Zone in the final, he had very little to show in the Duleep Trophy as well.

Similarly, Kishan, who is sitting on the bench in the ODI squad after hitting a double century in his previous outing, has not done as much in the longer format, Ranji. That said, the selection of both the players seem to be based on their ability to take the game away from the opponents in a short period of time and the X factor that involves — Suryakumar’s dominance in international cricket and Kishan being a southpaw in the absence of Rishabh Pant.

The other point that seemed perplexing is that players seemed to have been picked for Tests based on white-ball form more than what they have done in domestic cricket. But it is not something new. There have been several instances where players, especially batters, have been drafted for Tests based on their performance in white-ball cricket at international level.