Sarfaraz Khan came into the Indian side as a replacement of KL Rahul who has been ruled out of entire series due to injury.
Rajkot: Making his India debut in front of his father, Naushad Khan, took a bit of weight off his shoulders, reckoned Sarfaraz Khan after opening day’s play against England in the third Test match on Thursday. The Mumbai batter was one of the two players who made their India debuts on the day. Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel was the other. The 26-year-old made a statement on his debut with a 66-ball 62 before a miscommunication with Ravindra Jadeja cost him his wicket.
Earlier on the day it was an emotional morning for quite a few Indian players. Sarfaraz was one of them. A consistent performer on the domestic circuit for Mumbai, Sarfaraz has been in contention for national selection for a long time but the 26-year-old has had to wait for his chance to break into the side.
Having received his maiden India call-up earlier in the series, Sarfaraz was in line for debut ever since India lost the services of KL Rahul for this Test and also given that his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer lost his spot and Virat Kohli is unavailable.
On the other hand, with a sparkly average nearing 47 with the bat, Uttar Pradesh’s Jurel became the obvious pick for the wicketkeeper-batter’s spot after KS Bharat failed to make the most of the opportunities with the bat. The two youngsters got their names engraved on the rich roster of India’s Test cricketers with Sarfaraz becoming the 311th player and Jurel the 312th.
“Bahut accha laga (It feels good), my father was here when I received the cap. It was my dream to play for India in front of him,” Sarfaraz told reporters during a press conference. He also credited his father, Naushad Khan, who is also his personal coach.
“My father wasn’t coming to ground initially. But some people requested him and he came to witness this special moment. Mere upar se thora sa bojh haat gaya (I feel some burden is off my shoulders now), that I haven’t let my father’s efforts go waste,” added the right-hander.
Coming in at the fall of Rohit Sharma’s wicket, Sarfaraz took his time initially to settle himself in the middle. Asked what the conversation between him and Ravindra Jadeja was, the former complimented his senior and stated that the talk between the overs helped him calm his nerves while batting.
“I told Jaddu bhai to keep talking to me while I bat since I like talking while batting. He supported me a lot today while batting. There was nervousness early on but it felt normal after that,” added Sarfaraz. “Jab jab loose ball mili mai bindaas khela (Whenever I got loose balls, I played my game),” he said.
At stumps, India reached 326/5, with Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, both hitting respective centuries. With India reduced to 33/3 inside the first hour of play, Rohit (131 off 196) and Jadeja (110 batting off 212) steered the ship through choppy waters with a 204-run partnership.
After the pair was separated, Sarfaraz (62 off 66) scored the joint fastest fifty by an Indian on debut to push India past the 300-run mark. Jadeja was batting with nightwatchman Kuldeep Yadav (1 batting) at close of play. For England, fast bowler Mark Wood (3/69) was the most successful bowler.