New Delhi, Aug 10: A few days before he was recalled to India’s Test squad, Sarfaraz Khan had declared on social media that, “I may not fit in, but I’ll fight with everything I’ve got.” It was a message of resolve but one that was acutely aware of the probabilities at that point.
But as luck would have it, his resolve won.
An injury to Sai Sudharsan opened up the window of opportunity which Sarfaraz had been waiting for the past two years. He was included for the two-match away Test series against Sri Lanka beginning on August 15.
The recall could not have come at a more opportune time for the Mumbaikar, having done all that he could to “fit in”, including shedding 17kg in the past year and a half.
For someone, who has fought the perception of being a bit more burly for international cricket despite scoring a marathon triple hundred in Ranji Trophy, Sarfaraz now sports a sharper look, something that has certainly elevated his T20 game.
Add to it, hours and hours spent at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in Kashmir to sharpen his skills because seasonal rains made it impossible to have regular training in Mumbai.
The comeback, therefore, is one to savour as being dropped after four failures against New Zealand, back in 2024, was hard to process.
It was a series in which everyone failed but the axe fell only on the 28-year-old.
He then went to England and scored 92 for India A in an unofficial Test’ against England Lions apart from a century in an intra-squad game (India vs India A) at Beckenham.
But the comeback still remained a distant dream until India’s meek surrender to South Africa at home set the alarm bells ringing.
If sources are to be believed, the team management had, back then, enquired about Sarfaraz ahead of the second Test in Guwahati but the selection committee wasn’t ready to take him back into the fold.
However, with Sudharsan’s right big-toe impact injury still far from healed, the national selection committee had three options — Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has a first-class career average in mid 40s, greenhorn Shaikh Rasheed who is more of a No. 3.
The third and most logical option had to be Sarfaraz, who is probably the best player of spin bowling apart from skipper Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant in this current set-up.
Also with Dhruv Jurel not really coming good against spinners for some time now (at least when he is playing for the senior national team), one can’t be sure that the Uttar Pradesh man will play as a pure batter against the island nation when the first Test starts in Galle on August 15.
Sarfaraz way better than Jurel
Jurel came to Sri Lanka last month as the skipper of the India A team and scored a big hundred and a fifty in the two ‘A’ Tests but in the practice game that ended on Sunday, he was out cheaply defending against an off-spinner.
It is now well documented that Jurel has problems playing off-spinners. South Africa’s Simon Harmer got him thrice in four innings during the series against the Proteas.
In case of Sarfaraz, he has better range of strokes, including the conventional and reverse sweep, which he can play in-front and behind the square.
Red-soil turners at private facilities for training
Post IPL, Sarfaraz played the Mumbai T20 league where he produced some blistering knocks for Akash Tigers Western Mumbai Suburbs.
But once the monsoons hit Mumbai, he left for Kashmir where he stayed for sometime, training against the net bowlers as well as some of the state team boys.
He also did skills training on astro turf wicket at the MCA Indoor facility at BKC and rented private facilities around Kurla where he batted for hours on used and under-prepared red-soil tracks to keep his game top notch against slow bowlers.
Now that he has managed to fit in, India would need him to fight the good fight against Prabath Jayasuriya and company this weekend.
