Mumbai’s teenage batting sensation Sarfaraz Khan is making a statement with his consistent batting form in ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022 season. Sarfaraz is currently the second highest run scorer with 551 runs. Sarfaraz has already scored two centuries including a 275 against reigning champions Saurashtra in the opening match.
In fact, Sarfaraz continued his red-ball form from where he had left in pre-pandemic days. In his last 12 Ranji innings, Sarfaraz has amassed 1471 runs at an average of 163.44 including 5 centuries, 2 double hundreds and a triple ton.
Sarfaraz’s father Naushad Khan, who also happens to be his coach and mentor insisted him to move to Uttar Pradesh as he was not getting enough opportunities in Mumbai. But the decision was not a wise one as he featured in just eight Ranji games for UP during his three seasons.
By September 2019 he had only played 11 first-class matches and had scored 535 runs with the highest score of 155. He returned to Mumbai at the beginning of last season. I
In his first match for Mumbai against his former state team UP, Sarfaraz notched up his maiden triple-century in first class cricket.
Talking about his early cricketing days, Sarfaraz first came into the limelight when he broke the 45-year-old record of Sachin Tendulkar by scoring 439 off 421 balls in a Harris Shield game.
The youngster on the back of impressive domestic performances made the cut to U-19 World Cup side in 2014. He scored 211 runs in six games which included two fifties at an average of 70 odd. He was also part of 2016 U19 World Cup squad. He finished as the 2nd highest scorer in the tournament with 355 runs from six innings. A big turnaround came in Sarfaraz’s career when he was picked by IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015. His unbeaten knock of 45 off 21 Rajasthan Royals in his first IPL match made headlines. After spending two seasons with Kings XI Punjab, Sarfaraz was brought by Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022 mega auctions.
Sarfaraz has had his share of controversies early in his career. In 2011, a school team accused him of being overage. Bone tests showed him to have an age of 15 but according to the birth date registered with the Mumbai Cricket Association he was 13 years old.
In 2015, Sarfaraz made some offensive gestures to the selectors after leading Mumbai to a victory in the Under-19 championship semi-final. As a consequence, he was dropped from the team and along with Suryakumar Yadav. With consistent performances in ongoing Ranji Trophy season, Sarfaraz Khan will be hoping to take the next big step in his career and that is to represent India.