Sarfaraz Khan is now coming of age every year in red-ball cricket since making his comeback in Mumbai in 2020. For the unversed, he had left the team after his father asked him to play for Uttar Pradesh in 2015. The change of team didn't help his cause as he struggled badly and didn't get enough opportunities on the U.P side till 2019.
The right-hander had enough and told his father that he would either play for Mumbai or leave cricket. Returning to the former team wasn't as easy as people would think. According to the Indian Cricket Board rules, the former India U19 player had to complete a cooling-off period of one year. In that phase, he played club cricket across the city and scored tons of runs.
The selectors were impressed and the 24-year-old was back on the team. His comeback to the 41-time Ranji Trophy-winning team was a fruitful one. The middle-order batter scored a whopping 928 runs. Meanwhile, due to COVID -19 pandemic, the premier domestic tournament wasn't played for two years in 2020 and 2021. The tournament was revived early this year.
However, Khan's hunger for runs was only increasing and has now scored more than 928 runs and counting. This included four hundreds in the season averaging more than 150. The team has also benefitted from the performance as now they are playing the final against Madhya Pradesh as we speak. In the final, the 24-First Class player scored 134 runs took the team to 374 all-out.
At one stage, the team was struggling at 228/5. However, the innings of Sarfaraz took the team to such a competitive total. Currently, his run tally in the season is 937 runs and has the opportunity to get past 1000 runs which will depend on how the second innings goes. Meanwhile, the Twitter users are in awe of the performance and are hoping for him to break the doors of Indian Test team. After the exclusion of Ajinkya Rahane, one spot in the middle order is vacant.
This is how Twitter reacted
Sarfaraz Khan's average in this Ranji Trophy season has now crossed 150! I mean, how do you explain this...just go watch him bat.#MUMvMP #RanjiTrophyFinal #RanjiTrophy
β Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) June 23, 2022
Should Sarfaraz Khan get an India call-up? He's in the form of his life & scored consistently for 2 seasons. Whatever he can do he has done. The ball is now in the selection committee's court.
β Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) June 23, 2022
Unreal Sarfaraz Khan. Another day, another century for him. Top player π₯π₯π―#RanjiTrophyFinal
β Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) June 23, 2022
TAKE A BOW, SARFARAZ KHAN.
β Ayan (@ayan_acharya13) June 23, 2022
What started with a 401-ball 275 against defending champion Saurashtra in the first league game has come a full circle with a hundred in the final.
So the best batsman from that 2016 u19 batch is finally kicking off now. Der aaye but yeh bohot lambe time ke liye aaye hai iss baar.
β Kaushik (@CricKaushik_) June 23, 2022
Sarfaraz Khan decade.
Sarfaraz Khan was so emotional when he scored the hundred in the Ranji Trophy final, he has 7 hundreds & 5 fifties in last 12 matches in Ranji Trophy. pic.twitter.com/NtJIY7Mbpu
β Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 23, 2022
Sarfaraz Khan got emotional after scoring the hundred - he has worked extremely hard in the last few seasons, and the results are showing. 2nd consecutive season for him with 900+ runs. pic.twitter.com/xgGZ8KiRzT
β Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 23, 2022
Prithvi Shaw: terrible shot.
β Amol Karhadkar (@karhacter) June 14, 2022
Yashasvi Jaiswal: living a charmed life so far.
Armaan Jaffer: No footwork, playing across.
Suved Parkar: Loose shot after applying himself.
Sarfaraz Khan: Scoring at will.
That's been Mumbai's tale of the first two sessions #RanjiTrophy #MUMvUP
π― for Sarfaraz Khan! π π
β BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) June 23, 2022
His 4β£th in the @Paytm #RanjiTrophy 2021-22 season. π π
This has been a superb knock in the all-important summit clash. π π #Final | #MPvMUM | @MumbaiCricAssoc
Follow the match βΆοΈ https://t.co/xwAZ13U3pP pic.twitter.com/gv7mxRRdkV
This Ton is Special Sarfaraz Khan#RanjiTrophyFinal #CricketTwitter #MumvsMP
β Dheeraj Singh (@Dheerajsingh_) June 23, 2022
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