After going through the grind in domestic cricket, Sarfaraz Khan received his maiden Test call-up as a replacement for an injured KL Rahul ahead of the second Test against England. Sarfaraz recently scored 161 for India A against England Lions in the second multi-day game. On the same day, his brother Musheer Khan scored a century against Ireland in Under-19 World Cup 2024. Ahead of his probable Test debut, Sarfaraz has rated 18-year-old Musheer's technique better than his.
"He's a better batter than me. I'm not saying this because he's my brother. Sometimes, I may be struggling, but watching his technique and trying to work out what he's doing would give me confidence. His mannerisms, bat flow is very good. Sometimes when I'm not batting well, I look at him and learn," Sarfaraz told ESPNcricinfo.
"If I batted 300 balls, Musheer would bat for 300 balls even if he'd done a lot of bowling. Our middle brother, Moin, would do the throwdowns. Having two cricketers in the house, he decided to switch to training.”
In the age of unorthodox shots, Sarfaraz said that Musheer plays a better reverse sweep than him. Against India in Hyderabad Test, Ollie Pope employed revere sweeps to counter India's spin trio during his match-winning 194.
"Musheer's reverse sweep is better than mine. Sweep, I think mine is better, since I have better judgment that has come from experience. We always want the other to do better. Now when he bowls and I bat, there's a lot of healthy competition," he added.
Musheer has been in good form at the group stage. He has scored 194 runs at an average of 64.66 including a century and a half-century. He was handy with the ball against Bangladesh taking a couple of wickets. He will be action when India take on New Zealand in the Super Sixes clash on January 30 in Bloemfontein.
Meanwhile, Sarfaraz may be included in the playing XI ahead of Rajat Patidar as India need a middle-order batter in the absence of Rahul. Against England Lions, not only Sarfaraz scored 161 but he smashed five sixes and 18 fours as well.
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