Sarfaraz Khan has been named as Sai Sudharsan’s replacement for the two-match Test series in Sri Lanka. He flew from Mumbai to link up with the squad before the team travels to Galle for the first Test which starts on August 15. With Sudharsan out injured, Devdutt Padikkal appears to be the front-runner to bat at one drop, particularly after his eye-soothing century in the practice game against SLC XI.
Sarfaraz has featured in six Tests for India, with his most recent appearance coming in the 2024 home series against New Zealand which India conceded 0-3. In 11 innings, he has one century and three fifties to his name. The call-up comes on the back of yet another impressive Ranji Trophy season in 2025-26 where he scored 429 runs from nine innings at an average of 53.62.
Updated India squad: Shubman Gill (C), KL Rahul (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi, Sarfaraz Khan
Sarfaraz is also part of in the West Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy, commencing from August 23. A small part of the domestic red-ball tournament will clash with the Sri Lanka Tests, which go on till August 27.
