Run-hungry Sarfaraz Khan offers reminder of Test availability | Cricket News – Times of India

Sarfaraz Khan (PTI Photo)

CHENNAI: When some of his Mumbai teammates and TNCA XI gamers had been ready for the curtains to return down following a rain interruption in the direction of the top of Monday’s play, Sarfaraz Khan was itching to get again on the sphere. Sarfaraz, who had retired harm with cramps after smashing 138 (114 balls, 10×4, 6×6), had his pads on and was yearning for extra on the opening day of the Buchi Babu invitational purple-ball match on the Gojan ‘B’ Ground right here. Courtesy of his stroke-stuffed ton and halfcenturies from Suved Parkar (72) and Aakash Parkar (67 not out), Mumbai posted a good-looking first-innings rating of 367-5 at stumps. The starvation that Sarfaraz confirmed mirrored the burning want which he has to get again to India’s Test set-up. The 27-12 months-previous solely warmed the bench in the course of the BorderGavaskar Trophy in Australia and was ignored for the latest tour to England. Playing his first aggressive longformat match since turning out for India ‘A’ in opposition to England Lions, the fitting-hander, on Monday, was absolutely immersed within the process of accumulating runs. So a lot in order that he had to be told by his teammates after finishing his century on the stroke of tea. The Mumbai batter introduced up his milestone with a Virender Sehwag-esque higher lower over the wicketkeeper’s head, which resulted in a boundary. Up in opposition to a not-so-sturdy bowling assault, Sarfaraz made TNCA XI pay closely for his or her drops. He was handed reprieves – each off left-arm spinner M Siddharth’s bowling – on 15 and 121 earlier than deciding to depart the sphere with cramps. Sarfaraz was notably extreme on the 2 gradual bowlers, Siddharth (he hit him for 49 runs off 42 balls) and off-spinning allrounder Mohamed Ali (28 off 14 balls), as he handled them with disdain. He used his slog-sweeps to good impact to gather many fours within the sq. leg-midwicket area whereas opting to entry the ‘V’ when attempting to clear the fence. Besides his engaging strokemaking, what caught the attention was his eagerness to run onerous between the wickets. He put his velocity boots on fairly a couple of instances, one of the notable moments being him pinching a single a couple of minutes earlier than struggling a minor setback. Having a leaner body, a end result of his latest transformation, could have helped him within the trigger. Sarfaraz, as soon as missed by the nationwide selectors for health points regardless of amassing hundreds of runs, shed about 17 kgs in a short while in his bid to as soon as once more climb to the highest. Sarfaraz’s brother Musheer Khan hailed him for placing on one other good present. “My bhai has made it a habit to hit tons. We have a good score and hope to score more in the remaining overs (on Tuesday),” Musheer mentioned in a put up-day chat.