‘They are not gods’ - WV Raman reflects on BCCI selectors' thought process over not selecting Sarfaraz Khan for West Indies tour

Team India is all set to travel to the Caribbean for the upcoming West Indies tour. It is worth noting that India and the West Indies take on each other in a multi-format series that is scheduled to begin from July 12. 

The two sides will compete in two Test matches, three ODIs, and finish the series with five T20I matches. Ahead of the series, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) announced the Test and ODI squads for the series, and notably, Sarfaraz Khan was missing from the squad. 

Despite being one of the best performers in the Ranji Trophy, Sarfaraz continues to miss out on his international debut. His snub attracted the fury of many fans, who took to Twitter to lambast the selectors. However, amidst the controversies, former Indian cricketer WV Raman came forward to reflect on the selectors’ thinking in not selecting Sarfaraz. 

"There were some views expressed supposedly by the selection committee with regards to his (Sarfaraz's) non-inclusion. One of them seems to be that he needs to improve his ability to play against fast bowling and the other thing seems to be that he needs to improve on his fitness and fielding as well," WV Raman said on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel. 

"Somebody can turn around and ask me, what is it that they are trying to convey and do they think they are gods. No, they are not gods. They are not trying to really find faults with Sarfaraz Khan," he added.

These kind of judgemental calls are the norm in selection committee meetings: Raman

Furthermore, Raman also elaborated that the numbers a player puts up are not the only criteria for international selection and that there are a lot of other factors that come into play as well.

"They not only see the numbers that a cricketer has put up, they also try to discuss the various things that they might have detected in a cricketer's framework of technique or his attitude," Raman said.

"That's exactly what this committee has done. They feel that Sarfaraz Khan may perhaps not be up to it when it comes to facing international fast bowlers. These kind of judgemental calls are the norm in selection committee meetings. This has been done before, this committee has done it and it will also be done in the future," he concluded.