Sarfaraz Khan is looking set to be rewarded for his stunning run-scoring exploits in domestic cricket with a maiden call-up from Team India.
Mumbai star Sarfaraz Khan has been in stunning form with the bat for quite some time now. The 24-year old has been scoring runs for fun in the domestic circuit. On Thursday, he scored yet another first-class century to bail Mumbai out of trouble in the ongoing Ranji Trophy final against Madhya Pradesh.
It was his fourth century of the season. Sarfaraz is now the leading run-scorer in the ongoing Ranji season, accumulating a total of937 runs in just 6 games at a staggering average of almost 134. Apart from the four centuries, he has also scored a couple of fifties this season.
No other batsman has managed to touch even the 650-run mark this season. This is the second time in a row that Sarfaraz has scored more than 900 runs in a season. During the 2019/20 season, he had slammed 928 runs in six games at an average of 154.66, with three hundreds.
Sarfaraz Khan set to earn India call-up:
With Sarfaraz Khan showing absolutely no signs of slowing down with the bat, the selectors are set to give him his maiden India call-up in the coming months. According to a report from The Times of India, the young batsman is set to be picked for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh in November.
“It’s impossible to overlook him now. His performances are speaking about his huge ability, and putting pressure on many in the Indian team. He will be a certainty when the selectors pick the Indian team for the Bangladesh Test series. He did well for India A last year in South Arica and he’s an excellent fielder,” a source in the BCCI told the news outlet.
After the second day’s play of the ongoing Ranji final, national selector and former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi had a long chat with Sarfaraz. They were later joined in by another selector and ex-India pacer Harvinder Singh.
After meeting the selectors, Sarfaraz spoke about his dream of playing for Team India and said that he is only focusing on scoring runs at the moment. Sarfaraz also opened up on his emotional celebration after scoring his century in the final.
“As far as Team India’s selection is concerned, I’m working hard. My focus is to only score runs. Every person has dreams. It will happen if it is written in my destiny,” he said.
“When I was a little boy, the dream was to wear the Mumbai jersey and score a hundred. When I realised that dream, then I wanted to score a hundred in a Ranji Trophy final when team is in a precarious position. That’s the reason I was overwhelmed with emotion after the hundred,” he added.