Naushad lives his dream through son Sarfaraz

How do you protect your child from the big, bad world outside? How do you insulate your child from your own baggage?

Naushad Khan's response to the first question was to hold his children as close as he possibly could, suffocating them even. Naushad response to the second question hasn’t come yet. 

Sarfaraz Khan’s delinquent ways of youth were a product of having internalised his father’s trauma. However, in the resentful chasm that is Naushad’s mind - one where his own cricket dreams were broken and resentment darkened the fabric of his existence - hope was seen in his son, a prodigy.  

Hope turned into a dream not long after Sarfaraz’s birth in 1997. Mother Tabussam Khan said nothing to dissuade an overbearing Naushad because she had seen him crack once before when life came in the way of his dream. 

It wasn’t a pleasant look then, and it wasn’t going to be one now if he were told to stop seeing his dream through his son. The Khans lived it out without complaints - meal by meal, room by room, year by year. 

On Thursday, nearly two decades after a plan was formulated to make Sarfaraz an India player, he became one. 

“It was my father’s dream to play for India but unfortunately it couldn’t happen due to some reasons and there wasn’t much support from home (for him) then,” said Sarfaraz after the day’s play. "He then worked very hard on me and is now doing on my brother. It was the proudest moment of my life.”

Sarfaraz became the owner of cap No.311. Naushad was inconsolable. Wife Romana Zahoor teared up. Younger brother Musheer, who couldn’t be in Rajkot due to Col CK Nayudu commitments, would’ve cried. Tabussam would’ve felt relief. 

Naushad’s dream had become the family’s purpose, and now it lay achieved. Sarfaraz held it all in the best he could.  

As icing on the cake, he showcased to the world what everyone in India knew, the 26-year-old can bat, and how. He gave the purveyors of ‘Bazball’ a taste of their own medicine, smashing 62 from 66 balls before falling to an unfortunate run-out. 

“I was padded for almost four hours,” said the Mumbaikar when asked about how anxious he was before stepping out to bat. “I kept thinking that I have kept so much patience in life and there is no harm in waiting some more. 

“I was nervous for the first few balls but I have practiced and worked so hard that everything went well. I spoke to (Ravindra) Jadeja at lunchtime and told him to talk to me while playing. I like talking while playing. He just said that when a newcomer starts, a lot of thoughts come to mind. Like whether I would be able to play or get out…” 

“Initially, I was feeling awkward since I had been anticipating this moment for a long time, but later on, I felt that I had done all of this so once I was in my zone, I did not find it difficult,” he added.

Naushad, Sarfaraz revealed, was not planning on coming to the stadium because he wasn’t ready for the moment. “…but he had to come. He worked so hard for this only. But I felt as if some pressure was off my shoulders given the hard work he had put in on me - I did not waste it,” he said. 

Naushad is going to turn his focus on Musheer now. Another dream has taken shape, but hopefully, he can enjoy Sarfaraz's triumph for a while. And then, perhaps, unpack his trauma to set his children free.