A loud roar echoed in the empty stands of the Arun Jaitely Stadium followed by a ‘Sidhu Moosewala’ celebration when Mumbai’s star batter Sarfaraz Khan notched up his 13th First-class hundred on Tuesday. The century comes a day after he publicly expressed his dismay about being overlooked for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar trophy next month. Even a day before the Ranji Trophy fixture against Delhi, the 25-year-old looked downhearted and avoided any interaction with the media following the routine training session. But 24 hours later, the disconsolation vanished and he was all smiles when his superb knock led Mumbai to 293 at the end of the opening day’s play.
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After being asked to bat first, Prithvi Shaw gave a terrific start to the innings with his 35-ball 40. He belted 9 boundaries before getting trapped by Delhi pacer Divij Mehra in the 12th over. An early wicket opened the gateway to Mumbai’s collapse as Pranshu Vijayran ran through the top-order, dismissing the likes of Musheer Khan (14), Arman Jaffer (2), skipper Ajinkya Rahane (2) and Prasad Pawar (25).
The hosts looked to terrify the 41-time champions a bit more but Sarfaraz had different plans. He took all his time to settle himself down and upped the ante post-lunch. Teaming up with Shams Mulani, the right-hand batter put up a solid partnership for the sixth wicket and headed for the tea while being on 90.
Come the third session, he stepped out and smashed a six to spinner Yogesh Sharma and picked up a quick single to reach the triple figures. Coach Amol Majumdar took off his hat to acknowledge the youngster’s heroics while the rest of the players gave him a standing ovation.
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Sarfaraz’s innings comprised 16 boundaries and 4 big sixes. After the conclusion of the day’s play, he spoke about how he planned his knock that rescued Mumbai after a sudden collapse.
“At the beginning, you might have seen I was leaving a lot of balls in the opening session. I scored 10 odd runs off 40-45 balls. So that’s how my game begins. The motive is to read the conditions, understand the bowlers and then start scoring at a faster rate post-lunch,” Sarfaraz said in response to a News18 Cricketnext query.
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The 145-run partnership between Sarfraz and Mulani played a key role in putting Mumbai in a comfortable spot. Talking about the camaraderie, the former said he knew that Mulani will stay with him in the middle and score, so they took their chances and kept adding as many runs as possible.
“I knew that after Mulani and Tanush, there lies the proper tail. They both bat really well and I have played with them on many occasions, so I had that confidence that Mulani will stay and score with me. So, we just spoke that let’s play as long as we can and keep the scoreboard ticking,” Sarfaraz answered to a News18 Cricketnext query.
Dejected by the Australia Test snub, Sarfaraz found immense support from his father who flew down to Delhi before the game. Batter said his ‘daddy’ has always been there whenever he goes through a rough patch.
“My father was here. I practiced with him in the past two days in Ghaziabad. He knew I was sad so he came from Mumbai to meet me. He told me that we just need to score runs, be it for India or in the Ranji Trophy. If we keep playing, the runs will come. So, he keeps motivating me and boosts my morale whenever I’m sad or I get frustrated. He helps me prepare mentally for every situation,” Sarfaraz told reporters after the stumps.
Apart from Sarfaraz’s brilliant hundred, Delhi’s bowling attack was the highlight of the day as they managed to pick all 10 wickets. Vijayran was the pick of the bowlers, returning figures of 4 for 66. Harshit Rana (2/106) and Yogesh Sharma (2/61) bagged two wickets apiece.
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