India vs England: Debutant Sarfaraz Khan gave a tremendous performance on the first day of his international career. The batsman went through emotional ups and downs on Thursday. Before the match, Anil Kumble gave Sarfaraz a test cap, seeing which his father had tears in his eyes.
Debutant Sarfaraz Khan went through emotional ups and downs on his first day in Test cricket. Sarfaraz, who has been knocking on the door of the national team for almost two years, scored a sensational half-century on Thursday on the first day of the third Test match.
Sarfaraz’s father watched his son bat against England in the stands and commentary box after an emotional ceremony in the morning. Sarfaraz was presented with the national team cap by the great Anil Kumble, who said he was really proud of the young cricketer.
Tears in the eyes of Sarfaraz’s father
After receiving the cap from Anil Kumble, Sarfaraz went straight to his father – Naushad Khan, who was instrumental in making Sarfaraz a force to be reckoned with. When Sarfaraz handed over the cap to Naushad outside the Rajkot stadium, he started crying.
The batsmen came to the crease on the very first day of the test match. Sarfaraz came to the crease after captain Rohit Sharma was out in the 64th over of the game.
Interesting inning
England expected India to go into a shell after their captain’s dismissal, but that did not happen. Sarfaraz came out with intent and tried to dominate both the fast bowlers and spinners for England. The 26-year-old remained busy at the crease and hit 9 fours and a six in his 62-run innings from 66 balls. Sarfaraz was not concerned about taking the aerial route against the spinners and smashed them all around the park.
Run-out on debut
Like the presenter of his cap (Anil Kumble), Sarfaraz’s innings was cut short by a run-out. The batsman missed the non-striker’s end after a misunderstanding with Ravindra Jadeja. Sarfaraz had responded to Jadeja’s call (from the non-striker’s end) for runs. Despite taking a few steps forward, Jadeja retreated from the run, leaving the batsman caught dead in the middle of the pitch. Sarfaraz did not have enough time to get back into the crease as in the 82nd over of the game, Mark Wood picked up the ball and bowled it straight into the stumps from mid-on.
India captain Rohit Sharma got angry with this incident and threw his cap on the ground after the incident.
Sarfaraz looked disappointed by an unfortunate run out after a blistering 62 on an emotional debut but the young batsman was certainly able to make a strong impact in his first international innings in Rajkot. The long wait to get a Test cap was perhaps worth the wait for the 26-year-old Mumbai player, who impressed everyone with his approach on the first day in the presence of his father.
