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It’s obvious that a below par showing in IPL has cost domestic run-machine Sarfaraz Khan selection to the national team. The T20 league doubles as a platform for the national selectors to gauge how domestic batters fare against world-class bowlers. Sarfaraz is yet to fully crack the T20 League code, though he has a good record for Mumbai in the format.
So, can performances in T20 games be the sole criterion for Test selection?
There are gifted players who easily adapt to all formats. Equally, there are highly successful Test players who are unable to adapt to T20. After he played IPL for so many seasons, franchises have finally concluded that Steve Smith is not as effective in T20s. This while he continues to be a force in Test cricket. Joe Root and Cheteshwar Pujara are the other top examples.
His IPL struggles with Delhi Capitals this season led to the theory that Sarfaraz is weak against high pace. Playing pace under pressure to score quickly and handling it with time on hand and the luxury of getting the eye in are entirely different challenges. A batter may not be good at horizontal bat shots, but if he is good at leaving the short ball, there’s no stopping him in Tests. The pacer can be blunted by ducking and leaving.
The skillsets needed are vastly different. Smith, Root and Pujara have achieved greatness by sheer hard work. Sarfaraz is the first to admit that he is not a gifted stroke-player. He has to bat hours to maintain rhythm.
And he is willing to put in the hard yards. Immediately after IPL, with cricket activity ending in Mumbai, Sarfaraz headed to his ancestral village in Uttar Pradesh to prepare for the Duleep Trophy. The routine was gruelling — wake up at 3am, run from 4 to 5, gym from 5 to 6 and an hour dedicated to fielding practice. Evenings were reserved for three-hour net sessions.
PRIZED SCALP
The best indicator of any player’s quality is the fear and respect he commands among the opposition. Ask any team playing Mumbai, Sarfaraz is the prized scalp.
The last Ranji Trophy season, Mumbai’s last Elite Group ‘B’ league match was against Maharashtra. A do-or-die game with both teams in with a chance to qualify. A virtual pre-quarterfinal. Mumbai were third in the group (23 points) Maharashtra second (25).
Mumbai’s line-up included skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Armaan Jaffer. But the one man who was the subject of discussion at the Brabourne Stadium was Sarfaraz. One needn’t be an expert to say he was seen as the decisive factor. The stocky middle-order bat gave Mumbai the edge. In his previous match against Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, he had hammered 125 (next highest score: Prithvi Shaw’s 40).
To Mumbai’s misfortune, Sarfaraz fell ill and missed the game. The match ended in a draw and both teams failed to qualify for the knockouts.
The middle-order batter won’t take your breath away like Sachin Tendulkar did with electric strokeplay, but he is a run-machine in the same mould. If proof is needed, for the last three seasons he has been Mumbai batting’s lynchpin, in a line-up with Suryakumar Yadav and Shaw.
His father-coach Naushad Khan has worked on his game with maniacal zeal. In all, the 25-year-old has notched up 3,505 runs in 37 first-class matches with 13 centuries. Sarfaraz has scored 2,566 runs in the last three Ranji seasons. He scored 928 runs in the 2019/20 season, 982 in 2022-23 and 656 in the 2022-23 season. Sarfaraz averages 79.65 in first-class cricket. The numbers speak for themselves.
TOUGH RUNS
It’s not only the volume of runs. The situation in the match and quality of the bowling attack are testaments to his skills and temperament. Sarfaraz has rattled runs in one innings after another against seasoned outfits. Starting with 126* against Hyderabad, he hit 75 against Saurashtra on a turning track. With Mumbai in trouble against Tamil Nadu, he smashed a back-to-the-wall 162 before the 125 against Delhi.
Whether Sarfaraz will be able to front up to the pace of Pat Cummins at Brisbane, or tackle Nathan Lyon on a turning track, only time, and opportunity, will tell.
From the many innings he has played at domestic level scoring truckloads of runs, it can be safely said that there’s no obvious chink in his game against the red ball. If there is one, none of the domestic coaches have been able to exploit it.
His stocky figure leads to questions about his fitness. During the 2019-20 season, there was a transformation in his game. At the Wankhede Stadium against Uttar Pradesh, he stayed at the wicket for 391 balls to score an unbeaten 301. During the innings, he faced a bouncer barrage from Ankit Rajput and Yash Dayal with a packed leg-side field. He was equal to the test. In the 2022 Ranji game against Saurashtra at Motera, he faced 401 balls for his 275, proving his fitness again.
Sarfaraz has shown he deserves to be selected to the Test team. Whether he cashes in, if and when he gets a chance, is up to him. The national selectors can’t deny him the opportunity.
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