Disheartening! Gautam Gambhir brutally slammed for not giving chances to Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran

Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim has slammed Gautam Gambhir and the Indian team management for not giving chances to Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Karim feels that Sarfaraz and Easwaran have played a fair amount of domestic cricket and are ready to play Test cricket. Both these players were in India's squad for the Test series against Australia but didn't get a game.

While Sarfaraz has already made his debut in India, Easwaran is yet to play an International match. Easwaran was in line to make his Test debut before the series when Rohit Sharma was absent for the first Test. However, the Indian team management picked KL Rahul as the opener to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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Gautam Gambhir slammed by Saba Karim for not giving chances to Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran

While speaking to Sportstar, Saba Karim was disappointed with the way Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have been treated by the Indian team management led by Gautam Gambhir. He believes that these players have done well in domestic cricket and India A, which makes them deserving of Test cricket.

“It is very disheartening because one is ready to face numerous challenges, but this is something which is beyond their control. That’s the way I look at it. I seriously believe that domestic cricketers need to be rewarded,” Karim said.

“And here, we are not only talking about domestic cricketers, but about players who have done well while representing India A in the past, which means that they have been tested multiple number of times, and that is why you have taken them as part of the Test team,” he added.

Saba Karim slams the selectors

Saba Karim further slammed the selectors for picking these players despite not considering them good enough to play. He called out the selectors for making a judgment without giving the proper opportunity to these players.

“Logically, it makes sense to give them an opportunity whenever an opportunity arises. I find it strange that these two cricketers who are part of the squad were not even considered for selection. If that was the case, then why did you pick them in the first place?” the former India wicketkeeper argued.

“If you were not sure about their technical expertise of doing well in Australia, then you should have jolly well taken somebody else. I feel very strongly that without trying them out in those conditions, how can we decide that they are not good enough for those conditions?” he asked.

While KL Rahul was picked over Abhimanyu Easwaran based on his previous experience of playing in Australia, India picked the young allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in place of Sarfaraz Khan. Reddy emerged as one of the finds of the series as he shone with the bat and played some outstanding knocks under pressure.

"Harsh on Abhimanyu and Sarfaraz" - Saba Karim

Saba Karim called the selection decision quite harsh on Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan. He reminded the selectors of Sarfaraz's knock against New Zealand in Bengaluru in which he scored a magnificent hundred under pressure.

“It has been harsh on Abhimanyu (Easwaran) and Sarfaraz (Khan). Sarfaraz had two Test matches before he got to hundred in Bengaluru, where the rest of the team struggled, except for Rishabh Pant," Karim explained.

"And after that, he played two Test matches and both those matches were on rank turners. Forget about Sarfaraz, none of the other Indian batters scored runs. So, keeping that in mind, I don’t understand this decision,” he added.

Both Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran have scored plenty of runs in first-class cricket and have been regulars for India A as well. Sarfaraz has scored 4593 runs in 54 matches at an average of 65.61 with 16 hundreds and 14 fifties.

Sarfaraz Khan has played six Tests and scored 371 runs at an average of 37.10. On the other hand, Abhimanyu Easwaran has scored 7674 runs in 101 matches at an average of 48.87 with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.