Delhi: The Indian Test team has now reached the era of change. Shubman Gill has been named captain for the tour of England and Rishabh Pant as vice -captain. This is considered a new beginning for this five Test series. However, batsman Sarfaraz Khan has not been selected in this team.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar admitted that it is not easy to meet the shortage of big players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin. He said, “When such players retire, there is emptiness in the team. Ashwin has also taken retirement. These three have been a strong pillar of the team for a long time. Now this is a chance for new players.”

He said that this is a new World Test Championship (WTC) bicycle and now the team has to move forward. “We are confident that Gill will handle this change well. We are all hopeful.”

Why Sarfaraz Khan was not selected?

Karun Nair has got a place in the Test team after seven years. He was elected before Sarfaraz Khan due to continuous performance in domestic cricket and playing county cricket in England. Agarkar said, “Sarfaraz definitely scored a century in the first Test against New Zealand, but did not score runs after that. The team management thought that Karun can be a better option at the moment. It is appropriate for someone, so unfair for someone. At the moment, Nair has scored a lot of runs. He has also played a little county cricket.”

Sarfaraz Khan made his home ground debut against England in 2024. He played six Test matches and scored 371 runs at an average of around 40. Sarfaraz scored a century in the first match of the series against New Zealand. However, he had difficulty in scoring runs in the remaining matches of the series and India lost 0-3.

Recently, Sarfaraz lost 10 kg to keep himself ready for the tour of England. This Mumbai batsman was working hard on his fitness in the off-season and was taking full advantage of the time while staying away from the IPL 2025 season.