Sarfaraz making up for lost time with daddy hundreds
MUMBAI: On the eve of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy opener, against Baroda back in December, the spotlight was on the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav and Shardul Thakur. Sarfaraz Khan was resigned to his role of an extra who’d come in when the regulars left for national duty.
After the Mumbai players were done with their nets and the players were getting their gear ready for a season of red-ball cricket, Prithvi Shaw announced to senior player Rahane, “I may wear Macho’s pads.” Macho is Sarfaraz’s nickname.
Shaw had come to check with Rahane if the white colour he had painted on the blue pads of limited-overs cricket was good enough. Shaw and Sarfaraz’s careers have run almost parallel since schooldays. There is camaraderie and healthy competition between them, which started with each bettering the record of highest score in Mumbai schools cricket. But while Shaw suddenly leapfrogged everyone with a century on debut in first-class cricket, Sarfaraz struggled to establish himself at that level.
Sarfaraz, however, is fast making up for lost time this season.
As Mumbai play their last game of their season, ‘Macho’ is one of the first names on the team sheet. On Wednesday, he served another reminder of his potential with a scintillating 169 not out. In a 275-run partnership with debutant opener Aakarshit Gomel (122 runs), he helped Mumbai recover from a shaky start — 72 for three – and took them to 352 for four at close of play. As one Wankhede regular put it: “He is seeing the ball like a football.” It was visible in his innings. There was initial hiccup when he was bowled off a no-ball at four by pacer Kuldeep Sen (3/67). “I had anticipated an away swinger. When I heard the rattle of the stumps, I knew ‘ho gaya kaam’,” explained Sarfaraz. After the reprieve, the Madhya Pradesh bowlers were given no chance as Sarfaraz plundered 22 fours and three sixes.
He didn’t play a false stroke even after reaching his hundred.
Sarfaraz had walked in to bat at 11 am and by the end of the day, he was still terrorising the bowlers. While there is still a long way to go before he catches up with Shaw at the international level, he has covered a lot of the gap, with a run of 8, 71 not out, 36, 301 not out, 226 not out, 78, 25 and 169 batting, in the Ranji Trophy. The sequence of scores has made him the most talked about batting talent in domestic cricket this season. Sarfaraz attributes the transformation to his clear mind. “I have worked on the mental side. As far as the game is concerned, I have all the shots.”
Fellow centurion Gomel had late entry into first-class cricket. Gomel had played junior cricket for Mumbai before shifting to Delhi for a couple of years — due to father’s transfer — where he didn’t get a full season at the U-19 level. He then returned to Mumbai in 2015. “It is an amazing feeling to bat with Sarfaraz,” he said.