"This is what dreams are made of" - Fans elated as Sarfaraz Khan makes his international debut in 3rd IND vs ENG TestÂ
Talented Indian batter Sarfaraz Khan finally received the national Test cap from the legendary Anil Kumble ahead of the third Test against England on Thursday, February 15. The youngster had to wait for quite a while on the sidelines, and the ongoing injury crisis has led to his long-awaited international debut.
Despite piling on runs in the domestic circuit consistently, the right-handed batter was not considered by selectors despite several opportunities in the past. The Mumbai batter was often left frustrated with the selectors' decision, but to his credit, he continued his grind and maintained his form, eventually leading to his maiden international appearance.
He had narrowly missed out on making his debut in the second Test of the series in Vishakapatnam as the team management chose to proceed with fellow domestic stalwart Rajat Patidar.
However, now with even Shreyas Iyer out of the picture, Sarfaraz Khan was preferred ahead of Devdutt Padikkal to make his Test debut. Apart from the middle-order batter, Team India have also opted to hand a debut to wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who comes into the side in place of KS Bharat.
Fans were pleased with the young batter finally reaping the rewards of his years of toil in domestic cricket, with his father's emotional reaction on the sideline arguably summing up the moment.
Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:
Team India name four changes to the playing XI including Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel
The Men in Blue have made a total of four changes to their playing XI from the second Test, with the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Mohammed Siraj, and Ravindra Jadeja coming into the team for Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Mukesh Kumar and Axar Patel, respectively.
"We will bat first. We have made four changes to our team. Sarfaraz and Dhruv Jurel make their debuts, Siraj and Jadeja come back in. It is a good toss for us to win. Looks like a very good surface. Whenever we needed someone to stand up, they did and got the job done for the team. I think the next three matches are going to be very exciting. We have to keep focusing on what we can do here." Rohit Sharma said during the toss,
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson
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