Aakash Chopra has said that Sarfaraz Khan may have picked up an IPL 2024 contract if the auction was a day after the Mumbai batter scored his third Test fifty.
Sarfaraz continued his fine form with the bat since making his debut in Dharamsala, scoring 56 off 60 balls in the fifth Test to help India get to a lead of 255 runs by the end of Day two.
The Mumbai batter, despite his domestic exploits, failed to get an IPL contract during the 2024 auction as he went unsold. Speaking on JioCinema, Chopra said he wasn’t personally surprised by Sarfaraz not finding a team in the league as recency bias is an important thing when it comes to auctions.
“I am personally not that surprised, or I would say that I am as surprised as I am with the fact that Pat Cummins got 20.50 crore rupees. Recency bias is a very important thing. If the auction had been tomorrow, he would have got a contract.”
“However, the auction should be dependent on how you have played in the last five to seven years in that format and in that tournament. Sarfaraz had a contract since he was 18 years old. He has played for two or three franchises,” said Chopra.
Sarfaraz hasn’t got those many opportunities in IPL: Chopra
Chopra further stated that Sarfaraz hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to shine in the IPL and feels people are talking about him now just because of his performance in the England series.
“Let’s be honest, he hasn’t got those many opportunities. However, we weren’t surprised when no one picked him in the auction and that’s why there was no discussion as well at that time,” he said.
“Now we are definitely talking about him, that he plays this or that, but he is doing that here, just like Pat Cummins had won the World Cup,” said Chopra.
How has Sarfaraz performed in the IPL?
Sarfaraz has played 50 matches so far in the IPL and scored 585 runs with an average of 22.5. He played for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2023 edition and managed only 53 runs from 4 matches.
