Perhaps no Indian cricketer has been googled as much or trended on social media before playing for India as has Mumbai’s young batsman Sarfaraz Khan. The 25-year-old scored 928 runs at an average of 154.66 in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, 982 runs at an average of 122.75 in the 2021-22 season and over 500 runs in the ongoing season at an average of about 92.
Despite his phenomenal run in domestic cricket, Khan hasn’t found a spot on the national team as yet. That’s something unbelievable for someone who at the age of 12 broke the record for the highest score in the Harris Shield interschool tournament in Mumbai, and then proved his potential in the Under-19 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2014. In 2015, he became the youngest player to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). And since then, the wait for an India cap has still been on. Moneycontrol.com spoke to Khan on a lot of issues related to his journey, motivation and inspiration.
You have been in the news for the last few months for the kind of consistency you have displayed with the bat and yet have been overlooked for one reason or another. How do you look at that?
My job is just to score runs wherever I play, and I am doing my job. There is no point of thinking about the uncontrollable, so I am focusing on scoring runs. I am just doing the hard work, I follow my rituals. For the last three years, I have been working to stretch my purple patch as much as I can. The things that I did in 2019, I just try to repeat them. I try to replicate my frame of mind every time I go out to bat. I am a person who is attached to the ground. I practice a lot, and that is why my form is continuing.
You belong to Mumbai and have closely witnessed how someone like (current rising Indian cricketer) Suryakumar Yadav too had to wait for his India cap. What kind of inspiration do you get from SKY?
Obviously, Suryakumar is a good friend of mine. And we spend a lot of time together when we are in the Mumbai (domestic cricket) team together. I get to learn a lot of things from him. He has been doing exceedingly well of late but he too had to wait for a long time. If you look at the way he has been playing, it seems obvious that his experience (of domestic cricket) has been helping him, so that makes things easy. He is definitely an inspiration in the sense that if we can wait for our chances patiently, we will get it sooner or later.
The current Mumbai cricket team coach, Amol Mazumdar, too went through a similar experience when he used to score a mountain of runs in domestic cricket and yet could not break into the Indian team. Have you ever discussed that with him and how to deal with such situations in life?
I don’t talk about these things (not getting opportunities in Test squad) with him. Look, he’s a legend, he has scored so many runs. I have heard so many tales about him scoring in tough and challenging conditions. He has also told me about them as I have got the opportunity to share the dressing room with him. He’s one of the best coaches.
So who is the one person who is like a guiding light or inspiration to keep you motivated? Someone who gives you the belief that ‘I can cross this situation, too’?
I have just one dream and the dream is to fulfil my father’s (Naushad Khan) hard work over the last two decades. The day I make my India debut, my dream will be fulfilled, and he is the inspiration for me.
Your father too had this dream of playing cricket at the highest level, but he couldn’t. We have heard stories in the past of how sometimes a youngster can lose direction if he or she doesn’t get a break at the right time. So what kind of conversations do you have with your father?
My father always tells me that I should only focus on cricket. There shouldn’t be more than a 24-hour break in your cricket. If you take a break, you can get out of the zone. He doesn’t allow us to rest. My brother Musheer and I play at least 600 balls every day.
Ajinkya Rahane is your Ranji captain and current India captain Rohit Sharma too is from Mumbai. What kind of learnings have you garnered from them?
Whenever Rohit comes, I make it a point to watch how he conducts himself, how he approaches his batting sessions. Sometimes I also ask questions related to my batting, and he helps with his suggestions. With Rahane, I have spent more time with him in the last two years and have really enjoyed his company and learnt a lot from him. His commitment and discipline is so inspiring.
Have you ever wondered that had you been born in another country, you might have played Test cricket by now? Because In India even a double-centurion like Ishan Kishan had to wait for his next game?
No sir, never. My father has taught me one thing, and that is to try to control the controllable and not to be worried about other issues. If I start thinking about too many things, I will lose focus.
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