Sarfaraz Khan’s absence from the Indian Test team and him seemingly not being in the running for a spot at all has been a topic of discussion since he last played a match in November 2024 against New Zealand. Sarfaraz boasts a first class average of 64.73 in 62 matches but has played just six Tests thus far for India, the last of which came in November 2024. His last involvement with the Indian team was on their 2024/25 tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they lost 4-1.
Sarfaraz on Friday posted a photo from the 2019 Telugu film ‘Jersey’ with a caption that read: “I may not fit in, but I’ll fight with everything I’ve got.”
Sarfaraz’s 150 in the first Test of that series against New Zealand was one of few bright points as India suffered a historic, and rather humiliating, 3-0 defeat in the series. Sarfaraz was however criticised for his performance in the rest of the series, getting a highest score of just 11 runs. While he remained part of the Indian set up after that, the Mumbai batter has been out of the overall squads since their 4-1 defeat to Australia in the 2025/26 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Eyebrows were then raised when he was kept out of the Indian squad that faced South Africa A ahead of the two-match Test series between the two countries. India ended up losing that series 2-0 as well.
India are currently playing a three-day warm-up game in Colombo before their two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. The first Test starts on August 15 and will be played in Galle. The second will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
This will be the first Test series that India play in Sri Lanka in over a decade. They had won the last one 3-0 in 2017. Then led by Virat Kohli, India were dominant throughout, winning the first Test by 304 runs, the second by an innings and 53 runs and the third by an innings and 171 runs. It is also the first time that India and Sri Lanka are playing a Test series since March 2022, which India had won 2-0.