Sarfaraz's emotional road to redemption

Like many talented cricketers from the country, Sarfaraz Khan has gone through a turbulent journey in a topsy-turvy career. A young prodigy who first shot to fame in the Mumbai’s famous Harris Shield game in 2009 where he smashed a massive 439, Sarfaraz was soon suspended by the Mumbai Cricket Association for fudging his age.

Controversies have constantly followed the temperamental lad since then. An immensely gifted cricketer, coached by taskmaster father Naushad Khan, Sarfaraz made his first-class debut in December 2014 but fell foul with MCA the very next season and joined Uttar Pradesh. He struggled to maintain his wits there too and his father, who seemingly wields a huge influence over every facet of his life, brought him back home to Mumbai in 2018.

Given the rich natural talent Sarfaraz possesses, Mumbai couldn’t ignore him but the 24-year-old had to endure a cooling off period before getting to play in the 2019-2020 season. Sarfaraz knew that would be his last shot at redemption as any more tantrums could potentially derail his career. He made 928 runs in nine innings but then given the abundance of gifted young batters in the country, Sarfaraz had to replicate it to be in the limelight.

Sarfaraz, despite his fitness issues, has done it this season too, leading Mumbai’s batting charts with 937 runs so far in eight innings. The fire and hunger to prove that he’s ready to take his game to the next level was on full display on Thursday in the Ranji Trophy final against Madhya Pradesh where he smashed a career-defining 134 (243b, 13x4, 2x6) to power Mumbai to a competitive 374.

Soon after reaching his eighth first-class ton, he let go of his pent-up emotions. He first celebrated with a slap to the thigh and raising his hand with the index finger pointed upwards as a tribute to late Indian rapper Sindhu Moose Wala whose songs he and the team love listening to. Then the tears flowed, in recognition of the efforts his father has put in to make him the cricketer he is. The emotion, in fact, overflowed during an interaction with the media where he kept sobbing and couldn’t hold back his tears.

"I got emotional after my century and had tears in my eyes because my father has worked very hard,” said Sarfaraz. “He used to wake up early and help me improve my game and hence I got emotional. All the credit for my success goes to my father. I would be nothing without him. I have worked very hard and he has never let go of me. I saw a video on Hardik Tamore’s phone where my brother has uploaded a status where my father looks very happy. Dreams are fulfilled, even if it takes time but I am happy that I have my father by my side. Without him, I am a nobody,” said a sobbing Sarfaraz.

Sarfaraz said he was determined to score a century in the final and termed it as the best knock of his career. “Last night I was thinking about my best innings in Ranji Trophy. I would rate this as my best knock ever because this is the final. My team needed it and we were losing wickets at the wrong time.”

After the day’s play India selector Sunil Joshi had a long chat with Sarfaraz. When asked if the chatter around him being given an India call-up distracts him, Sarfaraz said his only focus is to make his bat talk. “I don’t get affected by the outside noise. It doesn’t matter if we have a crowd or if the game is telecast live. While batting, I stay in my zone. I only focus on scoring runs. Every individual has dreams that are to be fulfilled. (Team India call up) will come if it’s in my destiny. I’ll control whatever is in my hands and leave the rest to Allah.”