IND vs ENG: Emotional Naushad Khan thanks BCCI after son Sarfaraz's maiden India call-up

The wait is finally over for the Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan as he earned his maiden India call-up on Monday, January 29 replacing KL Rahul for the second Test against England. Notably, Sarafraz had been knocking on the doors of the selectors with his stupendous performances in the Ranji Trophy since 2019.

Furthermore, he recently scored a phenomenal 161 off 166 playing for India A in the unofficial four-day Test Match against England Lions at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Following his selection in the Indian team, Sarfaraz’s father Naushad Khan thanked MCA, BCCI, NCA selectors and all of his supporters for trusting in his abilities.

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“As all of you know Sarfaraz was selected in the Indian team today. I would like to thank everyone especially the Mumbai Cricket Association where Sarfaraz was nurtured. Along with it, he also expressed gratitude to National Cricket Academy (NCA) where he got experience. I would also like to thank BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for trusting in his abilities, selectors and all of his supporters for praying for him. Let’s hope that he plays well for the country and contributes to team’s victory and keeps playing well. Thank you so much,” said Naushad Khan in a video message.

Watch the video here:

The 26-year-old has a stellar First Class record having scored 3912 runs from 66 innings at an average of 69.85 with 14 hundreds and 11 fifties to his name with a highest score of 301*. Meanwhile, Mumbai batter Suryakumar Yadav was among the first people to congratulate Sarfaraz Khan on his maiden India call-up. Suryakumar Yadav took to his Instagram story and shared a picture with Sarfaraz to congratulate him and wrote ‘Utsav ki taiyaarrii karo (get ready for a celebration)’.

Sarfaraz reposted his story with the Bollywood song ‘Ashayein’ which translates to ‘hope’. He also shared a heartwarming picture with his father under whom he began his cricket training at a young age.

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India to rethink their team combination in second Test 

Meanwhile, India will need to rethink their playing combination as KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja have been ruled out of the second Test. Notably, Jadeja sustained a hamstring injury during Day 4 of the first game while Rahul complained of a right quadriceps pain. The men’s selection committee has added Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar and Saurabh Kumar as replacements for the second Test beginning from February 02 in Visakhapatnam.