A young right-handed batter and leg-break bowler, known for his cheeky smile and fearless attitude. An unorthodox batting style and a fierce intent to challenge the opposition bowlers no matter the situation. Who am I talking about?
While young Indian fans might instantly think of Sarfaraz Khan, those across the border would likely be reminded of Javed Miandad.
The young Mumbai-born cricketer scored a daunting hundred in India’s second innings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. India was trailing by 261 when Sarfaraz came into the crease to join Virat Kohli. Both players were dismissed on ducks in the first innings.
While Kohli stuck to his orthodox Test match flair, the young Sarfaraz was not ready to play the patient game. He scored a 42-ball fifty and built a crucial partnership with Kohli to keep the hosts in the game. Former India cricketer-turned-pundit Sanjay Manjrekar called Sarfaraz a ‘2024 version of Javed Miandad’ after his Day 3 heroics.
Sarfaraz reminds me of a Javed Miandad of the 1980s but this is a 2024 version of a Javed Miandad – Sanjay Manjrekar
Sarfaraz Khan The Modern Version of Miandad
A moment Sarfaraz Khan will remember forever! ☺️
He is jubilant, Rishabh Pant applauds & the dressing room on its feet! 👏 👏
Similar height (almost!), similar batting style, similar bowling style, and similar intent – ATTACK! The right-hand batter has scored over 300 runs in 7 innings with 3 fifties and now a century with an outstanding average of over 50.
While the analyst in me says, “too soon to say”, the fan in me wants to scream “WE MIGHT HAVE!” While Sarfaraz Khan is still just 4 Tests old, the numbers indicate that the angry young man is on his way to earning THAT TAG.
His way of scoring runs behind the wicket towards the third man region peppering anything that’s short and wide and accumulating runs with ease. The backfoot punch of Tim Southee towards the deep cover region to bring up his maiden test hundred. The innings of Sarfraz Khan and the swag with which he scored truly brings back the Memories of the great Javed Miandad who used to bat with the same swagger.
All in all in his short test career Sarfraz Khan has impressed one and all with his phenomenal batting and his adaptability to score runs in tough conditions truly shows his class as a batter.
