Published: Feb 19, 2016, 05:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 19, 2016, 05:01 PM (IST)
Sarfaraz Khan was the best player for India in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2016. With 355 runs in six matches at 71, including five fifties, Sarfaraz finished the tournament as the second highest run-getter. He also played in the 2014 edition of the Under-19 World Cup, where he impressed once again. He made a switch to the Uttar Pradesh Ranji side this season, which was a good move as he will surely get many games in the future for Uttar Pradesh than he ever would have had he stayed on with Mumbai. To add to this, he had a good season with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015, where the 21-ball 45 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) made even top class batsman like Virat Kohli bow. READ: Back from ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016, Sarfaraz Khan now aims for IPL 2016
Sarfaraz in the near future can be in the fringes of selection of Team India as well. Sarfaraz, at just 18 years of age seems to have had a lot of experience already. He has not played many First-Class matches, which is something that he will be looking to do in the upcoming seasons. Sarfaraz will get only better from here. He was lucky enough to have someone of the stature of Rahul Dravid as coach in the U-19 side. Dravid is also the coach of the India A side and Safraraz will get more time to learn from him when he represents that team.
Dravid too holds Sarfaraz in high regards. Speaking about Armaan Jaffer and Sarfaraz, Dravid said, “There is a lot of talent. Just like everyone else, Armaan and Sarfaraz are extremely talented boys. They’ve got as much a chance as anyone in the 15 to go on to represent the country. Like everyone in the team, they conducted themselves really well both on and off the field. The real challenge starts now as they have to go and play first-class cricket. They are going to face quite a few ups and downs. There is talent and hopefully they’ve had a great experience with opportunities to learn and grow as cricketers. From now on, the challenges are going to get more difficult and exciting as well.” READ: Rahul Dravid: Armaan Jaffer, Sarfaraz Khan very talented
The Indian selectors today have started to give IPL a lot of importance over domestic matches at times. The IPL has become an easy way to make it into the Indian team. Many succeeded in sealing their spots, while some have faded away. Mohit Sharma is someone, who came into prominence after some excellent performances in the IPL. He is now one of the key players in the IPL. There are also players like Manpreet Gony, who made it into the Indian side at the back of an excellent season in the IPL, but after playing a couple of matches, he has not been in the fray since.
Coming back to Sarfaraz, he checks all the boxes. He has performed well in the youth One-Day Internationals (ODIs), he has done well in the limited opportunities in the domestic circuit and of course, made an impact in the IPL for RCB, in a team that consists of stars like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Kohli. If he manages to keep performing like he has in the next couple of seasons, the selectors will have no option but to pick him.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
