CricTracker Exclusive: "I am feeling fitter now and it reflects in my game," says Sarfaraz Khan

For the second time in two seasons, domestic powerhouse Mumbai could not make it to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy. And it is for the fourth consecutive season, that the trophy eluded the 41-time champions. Mumbai won only a solitary game this season while drawing as many as eight. They could not tick off most their boxes, but among a few positives with which they can plan their road ahead, Sarfaraz Khan tops the list.

Mumbai finished 13th on the points table. But if not for Khan’s onslaught of runs in the latter half of the group stage, the Khadoos Army could have finished their 2019-20 campaign much more disastrously. The 22-year-old did not play the first two games of the season – against Baroda and Railways – due to the availability of senior players. Ajinkya Rahane made only 13 runs against Railways while Aditya Tare bettered the India vice-captain’s tally by five runs. All that while, Khan was serving drinks to them.

It was only after some of the senior players became unavailable, that Sarfaraz Khan featured in the XI. What followed was a storm of runs. The 360-degree batsman started off with a half-century against Karnataka, followed by an unbeaten 301 against Uttar Pradesh. This was followed by a 226 not out against Himachal Pradesh, 78 versus Saurashtra and another 177 in the last game, against Madhya Pradesh.

By the end of the group stage matches, Khan had accumulated 928 runs in only nine innings with an average of 154.66, the best this season as on February 22.

When Sarfaraz left Mumbai and joined UP

In 2015-16, Sarfaraz Khan left Mumbai to join the Uttar Pradesh team upon his father and coach Naushad Khan’s insistence. But he didn’t get many opportunities in the new team, which eventually prompted him to return to the city of dreams three seasons later.

“Only people in the UP team will be able to tell you why they were not giving Sarfaraz enough opportunities. We went there to play, but nobody told us why we didn’t deserve to play,” Mr. Naushad tells CricTracker.

The lack of chances made the junior Khan long to go back to the Azad maidan, cross maidan and most importantly the Wankhede Stadium. In 2018, the Khans returned to Mumbai but Sarfaraz had to serve a one-year cooling-off period before he could resume professional cricket at home.

“I wanted to go back home. I won so many trophies for Mumbai as a kid. This is where I began my professional career,” the right-hander reminiscences while speaking to CricTracker. Happy that I am back home. Mumbai are 41-time champions so it feels even more special to be their highest run-scorer this season.”

During the cooling period, Sarfaraz was barred from playing professional cricket for a year. But he took a positive out of it. “During my cooling-off period, I got to know myself better. What my aims are. Where I want to go, what I want to do. So in a way, it is good that I got to give time to myself. And I worked very hard.”

Know what went into the making of Sarfaraz 2.0

Mr Naushad, who has been his son’s one and only coach throughout, explains how lack of opportunities in red-ball cricket contributed to Sarfaraz’s slow growth as a First-Class batsman.

“Most tournaments that Sarfaraz played were white-ball tournaments. Even the IPL was white-ball cricket. He played very little Test cricket. This is why he couldn’t differentiate between the kind of batting each format needs – be it IPL or 50 overs or First Class. He used to end up with the same kind of strokes across formats.

This is one area we worked hard on. I made him understand that in whites, he has to stay on the wicket for as long as possible, bat as per the sessions, wait for the loose balls and leave the spin balls. We worked hard on all of this,” Mr Naushad explains. He also emphasizes on the fact that the emergence of an improved Sarfaraz came through a long process of hard work.

“In the build-up to the Ranji Trophy this year, Sarfaraz played a couple of red-ball tournaments. He played the KSCA tournament in Bangalore in which he made two successive centuries. Then there was a tournament in Mumbai where he hit a century. He scored a century in another red-ball tournament too. So it was a long process to see Sarfaraz 2.0. Nothing happened overnight.”

However, the performance analyst of the Mumbai team, Saurabh Walkar, feels that Sarfaraz was never a poor batsman, but lack of fitness made him look like one. “Sarfaraz was always talented. I am seeing him since his Under-14 days. He is hardworking and can practice for 10 hours a day.

He was the most talented among the group of boys in the Under-14 team. Talent can take you places but to sustain talent in cricket you need fitness, which was missing,” explains Walkar.

When Sarfaraz vouched to become fitter

Royal Challengers Bangalore dropped Sarfaraz in 2016 due to lack of fitness. Captain Virat Kohli made it clear that no fitness would mean no place in the playing XI. It was at this moment when the youngster vouched to become a fitter athlete.

“I have improved my fitness to quite an extent but need to improve even more. Fitness reflects in the batting. The very reason I could score triple-digit runs this season is because I felt fitter,” says Sarfaraz, who was nicknamed Panda by people for being unfit.

“The IPL and the BCCI need you to pass the yo-yo test, about which you must be aware. And Sarfaraz has been doing that. The board itself provides with good trainers and nutritionists,” Mr Naushad says.

Captain’s corner

Mumbai captain Suryakumar Yadav also joins in the conversation acknowledging Sarfaraz’s hard work on improving fitness. “After coming back to Mumbai and during the cooling-off period, Sarfaraz worked hard on his fitness. He worked on his batting too and just waited for an opportunity to play for Mumbai again.

And he knew that he has to get as many runs as possible whenever he gets an opportunity. In absence of so many players, he knew this is the best time for him to cement his place in the side, make a mark, play a few impact strokes. And he did all of this. In few games, he played a blinder of an innings

I think the grit, determination and hard work that he put the last one year is paying off right now. I hope he continues doing what he has been doing. I don’t think he is doing anything different from the others. He’s just being smart. He knows his game really well. And he is also been reading the situations really well. That is more important. I feel this is just the start and we need to remember the name, Sarfaraz Khan!”

What next for Sarfaraz Khan?

As far as IPL 2020 is concerned, neither Sarfaraz nor his father is thinking about it. The duo believes in taking each tournament at a time and not thinking too far ahead.

“I think the mistake we made earlier was that we planned for the whole year at once. This messes things up. IPL is still far away, beginning on March 29. Right now we want to concentrate on the immediate next assignment. Sarfaraz will be playing an Under-23 game soon. So we are preparing for that at the moment.

We also prepare as per the pitches. If the matches are in Tamil Nadu we prepare to bat against spin bowling. If the game is on a green top we prepare for the swinging deliveries. So it is all about one match at a time. That way you remain tension free too.”

When Sarfaraz was asked if he is hopeful of being selected for the Irani Cup, he echoed his father’s perspective, saying that he just wants to take it one tournament at a time. “I am not thinking about the Irani Cup. I think about one day at a time. Right now I am doing my daily practice. I practice at the Azad Maidan and we have made a wicket at home too. As for the IPL, it is a big tournament and I hope I can contribute to the team,” the ‘macho’ signs off.