Ex-India Captain Bats For Sarfaraz Khan; Asks Selection Committee To Visit Fashion Show For ‘Slim And Trim Guys’
New Delhi: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar came in support of Sarfaraz Khan and took a dig at the All India Selection Committee, asking the Chetan Sharma-led panel to visit a fashion show if they are looking for ‘only slim and trim guys’.
Gavaskar’s comments came in after the BCCI ignored Sarfaraz from India’s Test squad against Australia that starts on February 9. The Mumbai batter is in red-hot form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, notching up his third ton in this edition, the latest against Delhi.
The former batting legend opined that cricketers come in all shapes and sizes, also giving back to the critics who questioned Sarfaraz’s fitness. “If you are looking for only slim and trim guys, then might as well go to a fashion show and find some other models and give a bat and ball in their hands and then improve them.
“That’s not the way cricket goes. You have cricketers in all shapes and sizes. Don’t go by the size, go by the scores or wickets. He is not staying off the field when he scores a hundred. He is back on the field again. So, all that tells you is that the man is fit,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying to India Today.
The BCCI in its review meeting on January 1 re-introduced the Yo-Yo test as one of the selection criteria. However, Gavaskar felt that it can never be the only criteria for selection.
“How can you score runs? I think at the end of the day if you are unfit, you aren’t gonna score hundreds. Cricket fitness is the most important thing. Yo-Yo Test can’t be the only criterion. You got to make sure that the man is cricket fit as well.
“If the person, whoever it is, is cricket fit, then I don’t think it should be any matter,” Gavaskar added.