Ranji Trophy: Father’s relentless drills during pandemic help Sarfaraz Khan post 275 for Mumbai | Cricket News – Times of India
Sarfaraz Khan has made it difficult for the selectors to ignore him when they pick the squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka in the near future. Nothing — not even a pandemic which halted the Ranji Trophy for two years —seems to have put a brake on this unstoppable ‘run-machine’ who seems to be scoring ‘daddy hundreds’ in the tournament for fun.
On Friday, Sarfaraz launched into the 2021-22 season in grand style, slamming a magnificent 275 (401b, 30×4, 7×6) to help Mumbai post a formidable 544 for seven declared against Saurashtra on Day Two of their Ranji Trophy Group D clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The 24-year-old was unlucky to miss out on what would have been his second triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy when he was adjudged lbw off Prerak Mankad. Saurashtra were 18 for no loss at stumps.
Churning out another brilliant knock, Sarfaraz continued his sensational, Bradmanesque run in the Ranji Trophy. In his last nine innings, he has scores of 71, 36, 301*, 226*, 25, 78, 177, 6, and now 275. Going into this match, in 19 First-Class games, his average read 67.30.
Last year, he scored an unbeaten 71 against South Africa ‘A’ at Bloemfontein. If the selectors need an alternative to Ajinkya Rahane — who was out for 129 (290b, 17×4, 2×6) on Friday — and Cheteshwar Pujara, here’s one ready to be blooded.
“Since we suffered an early collapse, it was a very important knock for our team, and this is what matters to me. When you score runs against a big team like Saurashtra, who’re the defending champions, it feels good. This was the most difficult wicket I’ve played on so far in my career. The ball was swinging on both the days and they had a decent attack. We need to win this game to qualify for the knockouts. I had to play a big innings as they have someone like Pujara, who can make a big score,” Sarfaraz told TOI from Ahmedabad.
Coming into bat when Mumbai were 44 for three on Day One, Sarfaraz added 252 for the fourth wicket with Rahane to change the complexion of the match. “This is the first time I batted with him. It was great. He was guiding me with his experience,” said Sarfaraz. “I would like to thank Amol sir (Mumbai coach Amol Muzumdar) who gave me a lot of confidence, and Dr PV Shetty, for enabling me to practise at the Karnatak ground in Cross Maidan. My abbu (cum coach Naushad Khan) and brother Moin bowl to me with a special synthetic ball, which swings much more than a normal ball, at a speed of around 145-150 kmph. All that has helped,” said Sarfaraz.
It’s interesting to hear how he prepared himself to master the Saurashtra attack, which has two leftarm pacers in Jaydev Unadkat (last Ranji season’s highest wicket-taker) and Chetan Sakaria. “My abbu is a left-arm pacer. The wicket in my house (in Taximen’s Colony in Kurla) is difficult to bat on. I used to practise on it the whole day. Abbu used to tell me that you must imagine that you’re playing Unadkat and Sakaria. When I was quarantining with the Mumbai team here, he told me to visualize myself while playing them, in the mirror,” revealed Sarfaraz. “He also sent me videos of my triple and double hundred in the last season,’” he added.
Maintaining such tremendously consistent form despite a Covidinduced break isn’t easy, but thorough, relentless preparation, planned by Naushad, has been the backbone of Sarfaraz’s game. “I kept training hard in the past two years. I used to wake up at 5am, and then at 6am, would leave for practice for an hour at the Karnatak ground in Cross Maidan at 6am. From 6am to 7am, I would bat there, and then go to the Wankhede Stadium to practide with the Mumbai team from 8.30am to 1pm. Then from 2pm to 4pm, I would train at home. If Mumbai weren’t practising, I would train for the entire day at the Islam Gymkhana,” explained Sarfaraz.
On Friday, Sarfaraz launched into the 2021-22 season in grand style, slamming a magnificent 275 (401b, 30×4, 7×6) to help Mumbai post a formidable 544 for seven declared against Saurashtra on Day Two of their Ranji Trophy Group D clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The 24-year-old was unlucky to miss out on what would have been his second triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy when he was adjudged lbw off Prerak Mankad. Saurashtra were 18 for no loss at stumps.
Churning out another brilliant knock, Sarfaraz continued his sensational, Bradmanesque run in the Ranji Trophy. In his last nine innings, he has scores of 71, 36, 301*, 226*, 25, 78, 177, 6, and now 275. Going into this match, in 19 First-Class games, his average read 67.30.
Last year, he scored an unbeaten 71 against South Africa ‘A’ at Bloemfontein. If the selectors need an alternative to Ajinkya Rahane — who was out for 129 (290b, 17×4, 2×6) on Friday — and Cheteshwar Pujara, here’s one ready to be blooded.
“Since we suffered an early collapse, it was a very important knock for our team, and this is what matters to me. When you score runs against a big team like Saurashtra, who’re the defending champions, it feels good. This was the most difficult wicket I’ve played on so far in my career. The ball was swinging on both the days and they had a decent attack. We need to win this game to qualify for the knockouts. I had to play a big innings as they have someone like Pujara, who can make a big score,” Sarfaraz told TOI from Ahmedabad.
Coming into bat when Mumbai were 44 for three on Day One, Sarfaraz added 252 for the fourth wicket with Rahane to change the complexion of the match. “This is the first time I batted with him. It was great. He was guiding me with his experience,” said Sarfaraz. “I would like to thank Amol sir (Mumbai coach Amol Muzumdar) who gave me a lot of confidence, and Dr PV Shetty, for enabling me to practise at the Karnatak ground in Cross Maidan. My abbu (cum coach Naushad Khan) and brother Moin bowl to me with a special synthetic ball, which swings much more than a normal ball, at a speed of around 145-150 kmph. All that has helped,” said Sarfaraz.
It’s interesting to hear how he prepared himself to master the Saurashtra attack, which has two leftarm pacers in Jaydev Unadkat (last Ranji season’s highest wicket-taker) and Chetan Sakaria. “My abbu is a left-arm pacer. The wicket in my house (in Taximen’s Colony in Kurla) is difficult to bat on. I used to practise on it the whole day. Abbu used to tell me that you must imagine that you’re playing Unadkat and Sakaria. When I was quarantining with the Mumbai team here, he told me to visualize myself while playing them, in the mirror,” revealed Sarfaraz. “He also sent me videos of my triple and double hundred in the last season,’” he added.
Maintaining such tremendously consistent form despite a Covidinduced break isn’t easy, but thorough, relentless preparation, planned by Naushad, has been the backbone of Sarfaraz’s game. “I kept training hard in the past two years. I used to wake up at 5am, and then at 6am, would leave for practice for an hour at the Karnatak ground in Cross Maidan at 6am. From 6am to 7am, I would bat there, and then go to the Wankhede Stadium to practide with the Mumbai team from 8.30am to 1pm. Then from 2pm to 4pm, I would train at home. If Mumbai weren’t practising, I would train for the entire day at the Islam Gymkhana,” explained Sarfaraz.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsUpdate is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
