Anand Mahindra, the owner of the Mahindra Group, lived up to his promise and gifted a Thar to India batter Sarfaraz Khan's father, Naushad Khan. Mahindra had promised a Thar to Naushad after Sarfaraz made his Test debut. It was Naushad's sacrifices that helped Sarfaraz realize his dream of representing India at the highest level. As Sarfaraz made his debut, industrialist Anand Mahindra decided to gift him a Mahindra Thar. Reacting to a video shared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mahindra promised to give Sarfaraz's father a Thar, having been touched by his story.
In a viral video, Sarfaraz and his father Naushad were seen unveiling their new Thar.
Sarfaraz made his debut for India a memorable one, becoming the batter to score the fastest fifty on his maiden outing. He scored half-centuries in both the innings of his Test debut.
Sarfaraz, a domestic heavyweight for Mumbai, scored three half-centuries in three Tests against England. After India won the five-match series 4-1, Sarfaraz was rewarded with his first central contract by the BCCI.
Sarfaraz recently revealed that his father Naushad urged him to play domestic matches as if he was playing for the country even when his selection to the Indian team was getting delayed despite scoring tall runs in the national circuit.
"I would ask my father when would I get a chance to play for India and if there were people supporting us. He would tell me just one thing, 'think as if you're playing for India in your next domestic match and score runs there as well'.
"So I only had one job, that was to score runs whereever I'm playing," Sarfaraz said during the India Today conclave here.
Sarfaraz also revealed that he received a lot of support from fans on social media, saying that his Instagram account has also saw a huge growth in terms of followers.
"My Instagram followers have grown to 1.5 million after my Test debut. For the last four years, it was 600-700k followers on Instagram. Suddenly, after playing for India, it has become 1.5 million. It's good," Sarfaraz said.