‘A Guy In Form’: Sanjay Manjrekar Slams Team India For Demoting Sarfaraz Khan In IND vs NZ Third Test

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared his school of thought after Sarfaraz came into bat at number 8. 

“A guy in form, has 3 fifties in his first 3 Tests, gets 150 in the Bangalore Test, a good player of spin, pushed back in the order to keep left & right combination?? Makes no sense. Sarfaraz now walking in at no 8! Poor call by India,” Manjrekar wrote on X.

Coming to bat at down the order, Sarfaraz got out for a duck by Ajaz Patel. The Mumbai-based batter has smashed a massive 601 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 150.25. Khan scored 177, 6, 301*, 44, 21 & 52* in the last six games he played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Earlier, on the back of a brilliant bowling, the Indian team prevented New Zealand on 171/9 on the second day. The Indian team will look to take the last wicket as soon as possible when they step out on the field during the third day. 

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Tom Latham (c), Will Young, Kane Williamson, Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Tom Blundell (wk), Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Ajaz Patel, William O’Rourke.