It was worth the wait for Mumbai-born batsman Sarfaraz Khan, who compiled run after run on the domestic circuit (Ranji Trophy) for years, to catch the eye of the Indian selection committee before finally receiving a maiden call-up to the Indian side. Try and win the world. cricket for a storm. The amount of experience he accumulated in red-ball cricket is such that on his debut, he became the fourth batsman to score consecutive half-centuries in an innings in a Test match.
Sarfaraz Khan, after receiving his first Test cap on Friday morning from legendary former player Anil Kumble, had a dream start to his international career. He came into the middle at a crucial juncture of the game as Rohit Sharma departed after scoring 131 before the debutant looked for a solid partnership with another centurion, Ravindra Jadeja.
Sarfaraz and Jadeja accounted for a 77-run partnership to help India’s The total surpassed 300 before the first had to leave the middle after an unfortunate mix-up with the second that resulted in a breakaway. That even provoked an aggressive reaction from captain Rohit Sharma, who was seen throwing his cap in the locker room.
After Sarfaraz Khan’s unfortunate departure on Day 1, his father Naushad Khan would claim that there is no need to worry about it as these things are normal in the game of cricket.
It is an integral part of the game. Sometimes you run out of money and sometimes in some other way. It was his luck and he wouldn’t blame anyone. If luck favors him, he will achieve great results again.” – Naushad Khan told reporters outside the Niranjan Shah stadium.
Two days later, during India’s second innings with the bat, Sarfaraz kept his father’s word and struck another half-century knock that was as similar as the first innings in terms of aggression and firepower. His strike rate went from 93 to 94 in the fourth innings as he put on an entertaining 172-run partnership with double centurion for the second time in this series – Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Both Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan have played together many times for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and it was great to see the chemistry between the two. They even had a brief fight in the middle after Jaiswal refused to complete a double that could have taken Sarfaraz to 49 runs, but moments later both got what they wanted.
Sarfaraz Khan joins the elite list headed by Dilawar Hussain and Sunil Gavaskar.
With his 68 off 72, Sarfaraz Khan has become the fourth overall Indian batsman to have 50+ innings scores on his Test debut. The first batsman to do so was Dilawar Hussain, who posted scores of 59 and 57 against England in 1934, long before India achieved independence at the iconic Eden Gardens in Calcutta.
The second batsman to do so was the 1983 World Cup winner, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar who scored 65 and 67* in the West Indies in 1971. Shreyas Iyer, who was dropped after the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Vizag, scored 105 and 65 against New Zealand in 2021 in Kanpur.