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Sarfaraz Khan has always been a promising batter. There have been issues raised over his fitness and style of play but Sarfaraz did not just knock on the door but knocked it down with consistent performances in domestic cricket. Sarfaraz finally made his Test debut against England earlier this year, showed glimpses of what he can do and was benched when KL Rahul returned to the fold. Once again, Sarfaraz got a chance when a player was unfit to play, this time Shubman Gill. Batting at no.4, he bagged a duck as India got bowled out for a record low of 46 but the 26-year-old played a rescue knock of 150 to show the world that he belongs at this level. As Sarfaraz got his moment in sun, his Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav recalled the times when he gave him a pep talk.
Sarfaraz made his Ranji Trophy debut under Suryakumar's captaincy. On October 19, Suryakumar couldn't believe Sarfaraz scored this fast and neared his century. He watched Sarfaraz take off his helmet and break into wild celebration from the dressing room during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy clash against Maharashtra.
“Today the Ranji game started at 9:30 am and only our manager has phone access. Just 15-20 minutes in, the manager told us that he was batting on 93. I thought he was joking; so we took the phone to check. In 20 minutes, he had gone from 70 to 93 runs! We all saw his hundred in the dressing room. It was a different feeling for me because there is a connection with him and his family,” Suryakumar told The Indian Express.
The two options Suryakumar gave Sarfaraz
Suryakumar also recalled when he tried to provide Sarfaraz a solution instead of giving him sympathy as he wasn't getting selected in the national side despite scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket.
“I told him that there are only two possibilities, “Atmasamarpan” (surrender) or “Aakraman (attack), there is nothing in between. Raston mein ek aane ka hota hai aur ke jaane ka (there are two paths: entry and exit). There is one choice: to stand on a divider and see the world or do something,” Suryakumar said.
“He chose the way of Aakraman. And when the opportunity came, khade hone ke jagah chahye thi, sone ke usne bana li. (He needed space to stand and he stretched it to sleep in),” the T20I captain added.
