Sarfaraz Khan's dominance in his debut Test against England's spinners was no coincidence. This was the result of 15 years of hard work, which was greatly helped by his father Naushad Khan. Hard practice in the nets and playing in different cities helped Sarfaraz a lot. The result was that he scored half-centuries in both the innings of his debut Test in Rajkot and registered his name in the record books.
He became the fourth Indian to score 50+ in both innings of a debut Test. Sarfaraz showed that he is here to stay in the Indian team. The 26-year-old toiled for several years in the domestic circuit and earned his Test cap after honing his skills at his father's 'Macho Cricket Club'. Before showing wonders at the international level, Sarfaraz has scored a lot of runs in Ranji.
Sarfaraz's hard work paid off
The hard work of the last few years and systematic planning, especially during the Covid lockdown, paid off and Sarfaraz thrashed the spin trio of Tom Hartley, Joe Root, and Rehan Ahmed in Rajkot. Naushad, who has been watching Sarfaraz's progress very closely, says that Sarfaraz used to play 500 balls per day against off, leg, and left-arm spinners at Oval, Cross, and Azad grounds in Mumbai.
Traveled 1600 km by car
Naushad said that during the lockdown for Sarfaraz's batting practice, he covered a distance of 1600 km from Qari. He traveled to 'Akharas' from Mumbai to Amroha, Moradabad, Meerut, Kanpur, Mathura, and Dehradun and got Sarfaraz to practice there. Where the balls rotate a lot. Some balls bounce surprisingly and some remain low. This practice was also seen in the Rajkot Test when Sarfaraz was messing with the English spinners. He was moving forward and hitting him for sixes. However, the full credit for preparing Sarfaraz does not go to Naushad alone.
These coaches also helped Sarfaraz
Also goes to Bhuvneshwar Kumar's coach Sanjay Rastogi, Mohammed Shami's coach Badruddin Sheikh, Kuldeep Yadav's coach Kapil Dev Pandey, Gautam Gambhir's coach Sanjay Bhardwaj, and RP Easwaran, father of India A team captain Abhimanyu Easwaran. Naushad said that all these have contributed to the preparation of Sarfaraz. All of them arranged for Sarfaraz's net session against the spinners. Especially during the Covid lockdown.
Sarfaraz also practiced a lot on Kuldeep's ball.
Kapil Pandey says, 'Naushad called me during the lockdown because we both are from Azamgarh and when I was working in the Indian Navy, we played club cricket in Mumbai. So, when he wanted his son to get practice, I felt it was my duty. During the lockdown, Sarfaraz played a lot with Kuldeep in Kanpur Academy. They did many net sessions together. I told him that I would arrange T20 matches because Mushtaq Ali T20 was the main tournament in that season.
Another coach said this about Sarfaraz
Kapil Pandey said, 'Sarfaraz, who grew up playing on the red soil of Mumbai, plays well against spin and uses his feet very well.' Shami's coach Badruddin also talked about his part in helping Sarfaraz master spin. He said, 'Yes, I arranged for his practice and net sessions in Ahmedabad. There is no doubt that both father and son worked hard. I arranged for his stay in a hostel and asked Sarfaraz to try his hand at various sports.
Sarfaraz and Musheer train hard
Another coach who has seen Naushad training his sons Sarfaraz and India Under-19 star Musheer talked about his rigorous training. He said, 'Since a young age, Naushad has been making both of them practice playing hundreds of balls. So when there was no Mumbai match, Naushad prepared an astro turf wicket at home, where Sarfaraz practiced against the fast bowlers. But as soon as he has to play spin, he goes to the field and does open-field training.
Practice on a pitch that looks like the fourth day
He said, 'Even for red ball training, Naushad used to give simulation training to Sarfaraz. Suppose Mumbai plays Tamil Nadu in Chennai, the bowlers will be asked to make the rough with spikes. Naushad used to play Sarfaraz on pitches that looked like the fourth day of the Test, with wide cracks. The combined efforts of all of them helped Sarfaraz a lot and now he is making the country proud.
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