‘I Know The Answer’: Is Sarfaraz Khan the Highlight of Irfan Pathan’s Cheeky Tweet?

Irfan Pathan doesn’t seem to be happy with Team India’s squad selection for the upcoming multi-format series against West Indies. The ex-Indian cricketer has always been vocal about domestic players who are frequently getting ignored by the selectors despite having good numbers in first-class cricket. After the BCCI announced India’s Test and ODI squads for the West Indies tour, Pathan took a dig at the Indian selection committee through a cheeky tweet. This time, the former all-rounder refused to take anyone’s name. Instead, he dropped a short video of himself with a Hindi poem in the background, calling out his followers to predict the name of the cricketer, who “comes into their minds after listening to the lines.”

“I know the answer and have spoken about him before but I would love to hear from you guys,” Pathan wrote.

After Pathan’s tweet, Indian cricket fans were quick to put their brains at work with the name of Sarfaraz Khan, a talented batter in the Indian domestic circuit, dominating the comment section. Pathan earlier raised his voice about Sarfaraz when the Mumbai batter failed to earn a call-up in the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Highlighting Sarfaraz Khan’s performance in the Ranji Trophy, a fan commented, “Sarfaraz, the highest run scorer from Mumbai, is waiting for selection.”

Another fan shelled out a stern remark, saying, “Sarfaraz should be given a chance.”

Keeping aside the seriousness of the topic, a user sarcastically said Irfan Pathan might have pointed at former Indian cricketer Vinod Kambli.

After the BCCI preferred Suryakumar Yadav over Sarfaraz Khan in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Irfan Pathan criticised the decision, saying the selectors should give more attention to the Ranji Trophy’s performance of a player before taking the call. “Ranji trophy performances should be the first criteria for test selections,” Pathan tweeted.

Sarfaraz Khan was also left disappointed after could not find his name in the 16-man Test squad for the West Indies tour. In the mean of showing his discontent over the exclusion, the 25-year-old batter dropped a story on his Instagram, where he shared the stats of his Ranji career, accompanied by some of his spectacular shots from the previous domestic season.

Khan certainly has commendable numbers in his domestic career. Appearing in 37 first-class games, Sarfaraz has aggregated a total of 3505 runs at an excellent batting average of 79.65. He has slammed 13 centuries and 9 fifties with his highest score being an unbeaten 301.