Sarfaraz Khan made his dream debut for Team India in February- March. He scored an explosive knock of 62 runs followed by another impressive knock of 68 runs in the second innings. He then went on to score 56 runs in the Test match at Dharamsala.
But its been a long hiatus for Sarfaraz as his last competitive game was in March 7, 2024. The 26-year old batsmen has been working really hard to improve himself and is cutting down weight as he’ll be representing Mumbai in the Buchi Babu Tournament. During the off-season, Sarfaraz Khan returned to his native village in UP and began his intense preparation.
“There is nothing called off-season for me. I would wake up by 4.15 am and by 4.30 am, I will start the day with long-distance running. It was very helpful to improve my fitness because by the end of the month, I was able to run 5 km in 30-31 minutes,” Sarfaraz told Indian Express.
“It was my priority and we (his father Naushad and him) put a plan in place. So once I’m done with my running, I would hit the gym. So the first half of the day was allotted for fitness and fielding drills. The batting part would begin in the evening.”
Sarfaraz Khan has ‘Zero expectations’ to get selected in Bangladesh Test
Sarfaraz came as the replacement of Shreyas Iyer who got injured, hence Khan stepped in to play the third Test at Rajkot. Since then Team India had a tight schedule with IPL and the T20 World Cup, Sarfaraz Khan did not get any chance to play. Now the ‘Men in Blue’ will be looking forward to prepare for the Test series but with KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer back in picture it would be difficult for Sarfaraz to make the cut. Even Sarfaraz does not have any expectations, but he isn’t willing to let the chance slip if he gets picked.
“I’m not looking at the Bangladesh series. But I’ve to follow the process and be ready. This (playing matches) is very important for me. I’ve not had this level of practice in Mumbai because of the rains. You are just facing a bowling machine, side-arm throwers or sometimes bowlers in indoor facilities. But I don’t like batting indoors because the ball comes nicely onto the bat. It is not the case on turf because it will challenge you a lot. And you can only improve by practising hard,” Sarfaraz added.
“I have zero expectations… But I’ll be ready if the opportunity arises. That is what I’ve been doing all along and I don’t see any reason to change that.”
