Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan shed a number of tears after reaching his century towards Madhya Pradesh within the Ranji Trophy ultimate right here on Thursday. He received emotional a second time when he spoke to the media on the finish of play.
Sarfaraz devoted the knock to his father and mentor, Naushad Khan.
“Abbu (father) and I started my cricket journey from absolutely nothing. The dream was to play for Mumbai. Another dream was to score a century in a Ranji Trophy final. That is why I got emotional when I reached my hundred. Abbu gets all the credit. If he was not around, then none of this would be possible. I’ve had my troubled times, but Abbu never left my side,” Sarfaraz, who couldn’t management his tears, mentioned.
Best innings
“This is my best innings in the Ranji Trophy. There are two reasons for this — it was the final, and our team was in a bit of a tricky situation. I had to stick around at the crease, even if that meant I had to face 300 balls without scoring many runs. I only thought about what the team required,” Sarfaraz mentioned.
Sarfaraz had an extended chat with nationwide selector Sunil Joshi after play. Joshi would have, little doubt, been impressed with Sarfaraz’s current kind and insatiable starvation for runs.
Asked if an India call-up was on his thoughts, Sarfaraz mentioned, “When I’m at the crease, my focus is purely on batting. The crowd, the live telecast… nothing matters to me. When it comes to playing for India, every human being has dreams in his life. Slowly, these dreams come true. I will try my best to realise this dream.”
The 24-year-old said that his century celebration was a tribute to late rapper Sidhu Moose Wala. “I listen to his songs a lot everywhere I travel,” Sarfaraz mentioned.
