Former South African captain AB de Villiers has expressed his excitement at the news of Indian domestic player Sarfaraz Khan receiving his first call-up to the Indian team. The 26-year-old has been a standout player in the Indian domestic circuit for the last few years.
Sarfaraz has been in good form on the domestic circuit and has frequently been in contention for a call-up to the Indian Test squad. He scored the most runs in the 2022 Ranji Trophy season and could make his debut for India in the second Test against England.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers spoke about his excitement to see Sarfaraz Khan make his red-ball cricket debut for the Indian team and believes that he fully deserves the call-up, highlighting his impressive first-class record. He hopes to see him represent the team in the second Test.
“It’s just very exciting for me. His record in first-class cricket is quite outstanding, and if there’s a guy that deserves it, it’s certainly him. He has played 66 innings, 3912 runs, and an average of 69.85. 14 hundreds and 11 fifties, guys, that is not normal”.
“That is a very, very good first-class record. I know it’s a big jump up to international cricket against England, on the biggest stage, I hope he gets a chance because Rajat Patidar has also been playing well,” AB de Villiers said
Recently, Sarfaraz Khan hit a century against the England Lions in an India A tour game. He scored 161 runs off 160 deliveries, including 18 boundaries and five sixes. After India A defeated the England Lions by an innings and 16 runs in Ahmedabad, he was named the ‘Player of the Match’ and could be key to the team’s success in the longer format of the game.
Kuldeep Yadav Does Have A Lot Of X-factor With The Ball In Hand – Ab de Villiers
AB de Villiers believes that India should include Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI because he adds variety to the team’s bowling attack with his wrist spin, in place of the currently injured Ravindra Jadeja and also stated that Yadav could bring in extra variation to his bowling, making him a valuable asset to the team.
“It can only be Kuldeep Yadav, who doesn’t offer as much with the bat or in the field, but he does have a lot of X-factor with the ball in hand. He maybe gives India a little bit of extra variation with the bowling department because you had Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja there, two left-arm spinners,” AB de Villiers added.
Kuldeep Yadav has been unfortunate to miss out on playing in Tests due to the consistency of the three frontline spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel.
However, in his final Test game against Bangladesh in 2022, the left-arm Chinese spinner took a match-high of eight wickets, including five in the first innings.
