Sarfaraz Khan is finally playing for India in Test cricket. He was called to the team for the second Test against England but was made to wait as the management preferred Rajat Patidar over him.
However, with KL Rahul failing to recover from his injury, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma gave the Test cap to the talented and in-form Sarfaraz for the third game.
He was presented with his Test cap by Anil Kumble, who wished him good luck for the game. His father Naushad Khan was in tears and even kissed the cap. Naushad spoke to Aakash Chopra about his elder son’s first game.
Aakash Chopra – Did you wait for too long to see Sarfaraz Khan making his debut?
Naushad Khan – Raat ko waqt chahiye guzarne ke liye, lekin Suraj meri marzi se nahi nikalne wala (it takes time for the night to pass but the sun is not going to rise according to my wish).
Sarfaraz has been scoring runs for the last three seasons in the Ranji Trophy but was snubbed by the selectors. He played for India A side regularly, but the call for the senior team came after a long wait.
The 26-year-old has scored 3912 runs at av average of 69.85 in 66 45 first-class matches. He has hit 14 hundred and 11 fifties.
Playing XIs for third Test
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jimmy Anderson.