Picked for Mumbai's 2019-20 Ranji squad after serving the mandatory one-year cooling period playing local cricket, Sarfaraz Khan patiently waited for his chance, sitting out of the first two games. Ever since he got a game, against Karnataka two years ago, the 24-year-old has been batting like a man possessed. The steely resolve to make it count has shone through every time he has taken the crease.
After an epic 275 on Friday against Saurashtra, Khan’s sequence of scores in Ranji Trophy reads: 71, 36, 301 not out, 226 not out, 25, 78, 177, 6 and 275. Last November, he had an unbeaten 71 for India A versus South Africa A at Bloemfontein as well.
In the season opener at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, the stocky batter continued from where he left off in the 2020-21 first-class season, when he accumulated 926 runs in just six matches at an average of 154.66.
"Abhi aadat hi ho gayi hai bade score karne ki, right from school cricket days, kuch alag nahi lagta hai, din bhar jab insaan batting karta hai toh lagta hai roz ka kaam. (I have a habit of scoring big runs from my school days, when every day you bat for long hours it feels like a daily routine)," said Khan, about his penchant of scoring big hundreds.
When he was 12, Khan had broken the record for the highest score in the Harris Shield inter-school tournament, making 439 for Rizvi Springfield.
{{/usCountry}}When he was 12, Khan had broken the record for the highest score in the Harris Shield inter-school tournament, making 439 for Rizvi Springfield.
{{/usCountry}}Prior to this Ranji Trophy tie, Saurashtra bowlers were quietly confident of being able to pressure Mumbai batters. There was the experienced and canny left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat, the skillful Chetan Sakariya, backed by seasoned spinner Dharmendra Jadeja. They had the perfect start picking up three wickets for 44 runs. Then the script went completely awry. Saurashtra got India Test star and centurion Ajinkya Rahane early on Friday but Unadkat’s pack failed to make an impression on Khan whose 275 (401 balls, 30 fours, 7 sixes) helped Mumbai declare on 544/8.
After his 252-run partnership (518 balls) with Rahane, Khan added 62 with Shams Mulani for the sixth wicket in which he scored 49 off 42 balls and 118 runs for the 7th wicket with Tanush Kotian where Khan’s contribution was 81 off 63 balls.
The Motera track assisted pacers in the morning but Khan focused on playing through the session before opening up. “There is bounce and movement in the pitch and they have some experienced bowlers who kept bowling a good line and length. I just played session by session. Today morning again it was tough batting against the new ball, I scored only 30 runs in the first two hours. After that I played my natural game,” said Khan.
"In the initial stage, I was not even getting singles. After I got set, I started accumulating runs in singles and doubles. I didn't take risks and focused only on getting the team to a strong position," the batter said, giving all credit for his tall run of scores to his father and coach Naushad Khan.
"All credit goes to my father. I practice a lot with him. After playing on the wicket (astroturf) which we have at home, no wicket is difficult to bat on. I gain a lot of confidence playing on it."
Having shifted to Uttar Pradesh in 2015, Khan returned to the Mumbai team after four years. In 2019, when he finally got an opportunity against a strong Karnataka side because some senior players were unavailable, Khan scored a sizzling 71 with Mumbai under pressure.
"The whole process he had to go through to make a comeback to the Mumbai side when he returned from UP, he understood that he has to double and triple his efforts to make a mark, normal performance se kuch hoga nahin (just getting a hundred won’t help his case)," said Naushad.