Sarfaraz Khan’s dream turned into reality on Thursday, February 15 as the batter received his debut cap for the ongoing third Test against England in Rajkot. For long, Sarfaraz has been knocking on the door for his selection, amassing tons of runs for years in the Ranji Trophy, India’s premiere four-day red-ball tournament. Despite scoring runs for fun Sarfaraz was often ignored by selectors. However, both Sarfaraz and his father Naushad Khan emphasised on following the process.
It was an emotional day for Sarfaraz’s family as the batter received his maiden Test cap from former India captain Anil Kumble.
With tears rolling down his eyes, Sarfaraz’s father, Naushad took the cap from his son and kissed the badge on it.
Sarfaraz didn’t get the chance to bat in the first session on Day 1 as Ravindra Jadeja was promoted up the order after India lost three early wickets.
Mark Wood struck twice on his return to the XI while Tom Hartley also got his reward after Ben Stokes gave the ball to him early in the session.
With Yashsvi Jaiswal (10), Shubman Gill (0) and Rajat Patidar (5) back in the hut, Jadeja was promoted up the order.
As Sarfaraz’s Ranji Trophy numbers popped up on the screen, former England spinner Graeme Swann and ex-India head coach Ravi Shastri reserved high praise for the batter.
“This lad has been making a lot of runs, make no mistake about it. Look at that, an average of 154. Phew. Some of those numbers are absolutely bonkers,” Swann said on-air.
“He’s been banging at the door for sometime now. Literally waiting for the selectors to look at those scores and give him and entry, which he has got today,” Shastri quipped.
Over the past four seasons in Ranji Trophy, Sarfaraz went on a rampage scoring 2466 runs from 27 innings. He scored nearly 1000 runs in two of these four seasons – – 928 in 2019/20 and another 982 in 2022/23.
Meanwhile, apart from Sarfaraz, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel also received his maiden Test cap from veteran cricketer Dinesh Karthik.
Both Sarfaraz and Jurel will hope to get some runs under their belt whenever the opportunity arrives.
