A controversy erupted on Wednesday when Congress national spokesperson Shama Mohamed accused India head coach Gautam Gambhir of religious bias in team selection after Sarfaraz Khan was not included in the India ‘A’ team. The BCCI selection committee announced a 15-man India A squad for two first-class games against South Africa A, with chief selector Ajit Agarkar citing injury concerns for Sarfaraz’s exclusion.Shama Mohamed took to social media platform X to question the selection decision. “Is Sarfaraz Khan not selected because of his surname! #justasking. We know where Gautam Gambhir stands on that matter,” she wrote.

Shama Mohamed tweet

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla responded strongly to the accusation. “This lady and her party are sick. After calling Rohit Sharma fat, she and her party now want to divide even our cricket team on communal lines? Desh ka partition karke mann nahi bhara kya? In the same team, Mohammad Siraj and Khaleel Ahmed will play! Stop dividing India on communal and caste lines,” he posted on X.

Shehzad Poonawalla tweet

This is not the first controversy involving Shama Mohamed, as she had previously faced criticism for calling Rohit Sharma a “fat sportsperson” and “the most unimpressive captain” during the Champions Trophy in March.Sarfaraz Khan’s last appearance for India ‘A’ was against the England Lions in Canterbury, where he scored 92 runs. The 27-year-old has maintained an impressive average of 110.47 in first-class cricket over the past five years, scoring 2,541 runs with five fifties and ten hundreds.

His most recent international appearance was in November last year during the three-Test series against New Zealand at home, where he scored a century. He was the third-highest run-scorer in the series with 171 runs, behind Rishabh Pant (261) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (190).In his Test career spanning six matches, Sarfaraz has accumulated 371 runs at an average close to 40, including a notable 150 against New Zealand last year.