For Sarfaraz Khan, India’s hero in their win over Pakistan on Saturday in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, failure is not an option.
The 16-year-old from Mumbai is the son of famous Mumbai coach Naushad, and from a very early age, it has been drummed into him that he has to succeed as an international cricketer. And looking at the way his career has progressed so far, Sarfaraz is on the right track.
Having shot into the limelight after scoring 439 in a Harris Shield match (Mumbai’s highly-competitive inter-school tournament) in 2009 as a 12-year-old, he has graduated early to the Under-19 squad of Mumbai, followed by the national team.
Father Naushad, who is known for producing exceptional talent out of small-town boys with hardly any background of cricket (IPL stars Iqbal Abdulla and Kamran Khan are two examples), is a constant companion and is always thinking of ways to provide his son with greater challenges.
Naushad has been accused of trying to live his dreams through his son and being too harsh on the teenager, but Sarfaraz doesn’t mind. And he has even thought of a novel way he could take Naushad to the field wherever he plays for India.
Speaking to Sport360° after his 74-run, one-wicket, one-run out and four-catch effort yesterday, Sarfaraz revealed his father was the reason why he chose the unusual number 97 for his shirt.
“I previously wore No87. But I thought about it and since my father’s name is Naushad, I decided to use 97. Nine and seven in hindi is ‘Nau’ and ‘saat’. Put together, nau-saat comes very close to my father’s name. So, I took 97 as I now have my name on my shirt, as well as my father’s,” said Sarfaraz.
On his performance against Pakistan, he added: “I am glad I got the Man of the Match against them. We have matches against Scotland and PNG, but Pakistan was the most difficult match in our group. I am feeling very confident and I am hoping to perform as well in the coming matches.”
The innings showed the mental strength that Sarfaraz possesses. He came in with India in trouble and struggled as he took some 16 balls to open his account. He was soon dropped on nought, but then took apart the Pakistan bowlers, playing numerous sweep shots and pulls.
“I found that the ball was turning and keeping a bit low. I was not getting the straight shots. The first 12-15 balls I was not able to score,” Sarfaraz added. “The dropped catch helped me a lot. When that happened, I thought I could have been out. I just started playing my natural game after that.
“Normally, the ground I play on in Mumbai, Azad Maidan, the ball turns a lot there. When I started, there was obviously some pressure…also because this was such a big match for us and it was live on TV and millions would be watching. But once I stayed there for the first 15 balls, I started feeling a lot more comfortable.”
