The young batter now has two hundreds from as many games
There is a pattern with people of great character is that there is never a dearth of trying no matter what they do. Sarfaraz Khan has been labelled as the next big run machine for India after piling on runs in staggering fashion.
After a wait of nearly a year and half since his best Ranji Trophy season, Sarfaraz got his maiden call-up for India in 2024 against England in Rajkot. Batting in the lower-middle order, Sarfaraz scored three fifties and a hundred from six Tests which should’ve been enough to guarantee him a spot in the team after the New Zealand series which India lost by a 0-3 margin for the first time on home soil.
He was named in the squad for the next assignment in Australia. Despite winning the first Test with authority, India were losing grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they held on for 10 years and changes in the playing XI were needed. They had made changes in the pace bowling department and even tinkered with their opening combinations, but somehow there was no combination that Sarfaraz would fit in.
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Even when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from Test cricket, the selectors went with B Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair for the middle-order and Sarfaraz was relegated to India A shadow tour.
The 27-year-old didn’t let this deter him as he made a solid 92 in the first match against England Lions. As soon as he came back to India, he returned to the field at the Mumbai maidans to feature in the local Kanga League.
After scoring runs there, Sarfaraz is making waves in the Buchi Babu Invitational tournament in Chennai for Mumbai XI.
After scoring a hundred in the opening match against TNCA XI, Sarfaraz continued to pile on runs with another 111 in the first innings of the second game against Haryana XI.
Walking in at No.5, Sarfaraz added 117 runs for the fourth wicket with Hardik Tamore while getting to his century and returned as the seventh wicket.
As a result, Mumbai XI posted a score of 346/9 at the end of Day 1.
Sarfaraz’s hunger for runs is nothing new as the youngster has been doing the same thing for the last 5-6 years.After a stupendous 2019-20 season, where he averaged a stunning 154 from just six innings and scored 900-plus runs, Sarfaraz only doubled his efforts in 2022 season where his haul of 982 runs from just nine innings took Mumbai to the final. In that season he averaged a stunning 122.
