India, Nov. 8 -- For reasons out of his control, Sarfaraz Khan has had a pretty frustrating 2025, a year in which he would have expected himself to take the next big step in his cricket career. To turn matters from bad to worse, he hasn't had the best go of it after being given the opportunity to prove his case with the start of the Ranji Trophy season, only scratching together 95 runs in Mumbai's first three matches of the fresh campaign.

After seeing himself snubbed not only from India's senior Test side on the tour of England and for the series against the West Indies, the batter was also not included in the India A team for the ongoing series against South Africa. The immense promise Sarfaraz Khan showed after earning a Test debut in...