Sarfaraz Khan Recalled to India's Test Squad After 21 Months, Lost 17 Kilos to Get There

Sarfaraz Khan is heading back into an Indian Test squad after 21 months on the outside. He was named as a replacement for Sai Sudharsan, who is dealing with a right big-toe injury, ahead of India's two-match Test series against Sri Lanka that begins in Galle on August 15, according to the Times of India and Hindustan Times.

This isn't a sentimental pick. Sarfaraz earned it the hard way, and the numbers back that up.

The fitness overhaul

Sarfaraz shed 17 kilograms over roughly a year and a half, according to multiple reports including odishabytes and rediff.com. His father and longtime coach, Naushad Khan, told Hindustan Times more than a year ago that the transformation started with a complete dietary overhaul after Sarfaraz was left off India's tour of England.

Roti, rice, sugar and bakery items were cut. Grilled fish, chicken, boiled eggs, broccoli and green tea replaced them. Even biryani got the axe. The weight loss came in stages, Hindustan Times reported: 10 kilograms first, then eventually the full 17.

Sarfaraz has spent years fighting a specific criticism: that he was too heavy to hold up at the international level, no matter how many runs he piled up domestically. He's now, by every account, leaner and sharper than he's ever looked in international cricket.

Grinding through the monsoon

When Mumbai's seasonal rains made regular outdoor training impossible, Sarfaraz didn't sit around. He flew to Srinagar and put in long hours at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium, training alongside some of Jammu & Kashmir's Ranji Trophy-winning players and net bowlers, according to odishabytes.

He also worked on an astroturf wicket at the Mumbai Cricket Association's indoor facility at BKC and rented private facilities near Kurla to bat for hours on worn, under-prepared red-soil tracks, per the same report. He was grinding on rented nets because the weather wouldn't cooperate.

The road that got him dropped

Sarfaraz made his Test debut in 2024 at age 26 and immediately delivered, scoring three half-centuries against England at home, according to Hindustan Times. Later that year he smashed a career-best 150 against New Zealand, in a series where India lost 3-0 at home for the first time since 2012.

Then it dried up. Scores of 11, 9, 0 and 1 followed the century. He was picked for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia but never got a game, then was left out entirely for last year's England tour.

Last year, the national selectors reportedly told those asking about him that they had "seen enough" of Sarfaraz and wanted to try other options, according to the Times of India. He wasn't even picked for the India A home series against South Africa A.

While out of the senior setup, Sarfaraz kept producing. He scored 92 for India A in an unofficial Test against England Lions and a century in an intra-squad match at Beckenham, per rediff.com. None of it moved the selection committee until India's poor home performance against South Africa reportedly got people asking questions again.

Why now, and who else was in the mix

With Sudharsan's toe injury not healing in time, the selectors reportedly weighed three options: Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose first-class average sits in the mid-40s; Shaikh Rasheed, a young batter more suited to No. 3; and Sarfaraz. Rediff.com called Sarfaraz "the third and most logical option," noting he's arguably India's best player of spin outside of captain Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.

There's also a fair question about Dhruv Jurel, who captained India A to a big hundred and a fifty in two unofficial Tests in Sri Lanka last month but got out cheaply in the warm-up match that wrapped up Sunday. Whether Jurel plays purely as a batter against Sri Lanka's spin attack remains unresolved.

Sarfaraz posted on Instagram before the call-up came through: "I may not fit in, but I'll fight with everything I've got," a quote picked up by both the Times of India and odishabytes. Forty-eight hours later, he had his answer.

The two-Test series opens in Galle on August 15. Sarfaraz, who once scored a triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy, will get his first shot in 21 months to prove the comeback sticks on pitches expected to turn and reward exactly the kind of spin-hitting he's built his domestic reputation on.