Cricket News

Aakash Chopra opines Sarfaraz Khan should make his debut in third Test Match against England

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra thinks that Sarfaraz Khan should make his debut in the third Test match against England ahead of Devdutt Padikkal.

The third match between India and England is important for both the teams as the series is levelled at 1-1. The third Test match will be played at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot and it will begin from 15th February. Shreyas Iyer was not available for the last three Test matches and KL Rahul was ruled out for the third Test match due to fitness issues. Devdutt Padikkal has replaced him in the squad.

Aakash Chopra has posted a new video on his YouTube channel stating that Devdutt Padikkal has been a good form in recent Ranji Trophy games. Meanwhile, he stated that Sarfaraz Khan should be chosen over him.

“Either Sarfaraz or Devdutt Padikkal will make his debut. The simple answer to the question is that it should be Sarfaraz because he has been scoring runs for a very long time. It’s not that Devdutt Padikkal hasn’t been scoring runs for a long time,” he stated.

India may make a few changes for the third Test match against England

“If you see just this season in isolation, no one is in better form than Devdutt Padikkal. This is the right time to give somebody an opportunity but Sarfaraz had come into the team before him, just like Rajat Patidar had come earlier. You played Patidar then. So, it is your duty to play Sarfaraz in this match,” Aakash Chopra added.

From 45 first-class matches, Sarfaraz Khan has scored 3912 runs with an average of 69.85 runs. On the other hand, Devdutt Padikkal has played 31 first-class games scored 2227 runs and has 4 hundreds with an average of 44.54.

For the third Test match against England Indian team may make a few changes. We may see Sarfaraz Khan or Devdutt Padikkal making their debut. Dhurv Jurel can also make his debut to replace KS Bharat, who has been struggling with poor form with his bat.