The BCCI on Tuesday announced the India A squad for the two four-day matches against South Africa A to be held at the BCCI Center of Excellence in Bengaluru. Notably, Sarfaraz Khan, who last represented India in the home series against New Zealand in November 2024, was left out of both the matches.
Sarfaraz Khan recently made his return to competitive cricket for Mumbai during the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 opener against Jammu and Kashmir. The right-handed batsman registered scores of 42 and 32 in both the innings in Mumbai’s win. Notably, he has recently lost a lot of weight and looks fitter than ever in his career.
Questions have been raised over the exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan from India A team.
Questions are being raised over the continuous exclusion of Sarfaraz Khan from the Indian team. The 27-year-old scored 92 against England Lions during India A’s tour of England and scored an unbeaten century in an intra-squad match in the presence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
Sarfaraz Khan has been one of India’s most consistent red-ball performers, scoring 2,467 runs at an average of 117.47 in the last five years, including 10 centuries and five fifties.
However, the young batsman has struggled in recent matches for India, scoring 11, 9, 0 and 1 on a rank turner against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai. Despite traveling to Australia for the Test series, Devdutt Padikkal (who was not in the original squad) and Dhruv Jurel were given chances ahead of him.
Sarfaraz Khan dropped from India A team to focus on Ranji Trophy
According to a report in Times of India, Sarfaraz Khan’s omission from the India A red-ball squad is not the end of his Test prospects. The selectors reportedly want him to get consistent match practice in the Ranji Trophy following his injury.
He was being considered for inclusion in the second match, but key players like KL Rahul preferred to participate in preparation for India’s upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa at home.
“It is not right that he is not even in the plans for the Indian Test team, or that the doors have been closed to him. He is a talented player. The reality is that the selectors want to ensure that Sarfaraz gets as many matches as possible in the Ranji Trophy after his return from injury,” a BCCI source told TOI.
“Had he been included in this squad, he would have missed the next few rounds of Ranji Trophy. The idea was to include him in the squad for the second match, but then all the Indian players like KL Rahul are keen to play in that game to get match practice before the home two-Test series against South Africa.”
Teenage opener Ayush Mhatre gets unexpected India A selection
Ayush Mhatre has been a surprise inclusion in the India A team. The teenage opening batsman scored only 38 runs at an average of 12.66 in the two Under-19 Test matches against Australia and 10 runs at an average of 3.33 in the three Youth ODIs.
However, his father, Yogesh Mhatre, described the selection as a “Diwali gift”. He thanked the selectors for giving his son a platform to prove himself. Yogesh admitted that Ayush’s individual performance in Australia had been disappointing.
“It’s a surprise Diwali gift for us. It’s a golden opportunity for him. This season is not going well for him, but still he has been given a good platform to perform. I must salute the selectors’ thinking behind investing in him,” Yogesh Mhatre told TOI.
“Ayush was not scoring runs in Australia but was happy that India won all the matches on that tour. The players were also happy with his captaincy,” he said.
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