"Five-Day Player": Sourav Ganguly On Future Of Star Performer vs England Without IPL Contract
Sourav Ganguly praised young India batter following the latter's remarkable start to international cricket.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly praised young batter Sarfaraz Khan, saying that his game suits the five-day format. Right-handed batter Sarfaraz, who has been scoring runs consistently in domestic cricuit for the past three years, finally got his chance against England in Rajkot Test. He kicked off his international career with an impactful 62 and then followed it up with a 68 not out in the same match. In his second Test match in Ranchi, Sarfaraz failed to repeat his heroics with the bat but Ganguly believes he has a bright future in the format.
"No, I think he's more of a five-day player. His game is suited for that. T20 is a different format. And the amount of runs he scored in domestic cricket, in the Ranji trophy and in first-class cricket has been phenomenal. And as they say, if you score runs, it doesn't go to waste. And that's exactly what's happened to Sarfaraz," Ganguly told Revsportz.
Sarfaraz's surge to international level has been much anticipated by fans, who have kept an eye on his domestic cricket form. He has been thriving in first-class cricket, most notably the Ranji Trophy, where he top-scored in 2021-22 with 982 runs in six matches, placed fifth in the 2019-20 season with 928 runs in six matches, scoring well in the 2022-23 season as well with 556 runs in six matches.
In the unofficial Test series of three matches against England Lions that earlier happened side-by-side with the series between senior sides, Sarfaraz did well for India A, scoring 96 in a Tour match then 4, 55 and 161 in two unofficial Tests.
In 47 first-class matches, Sarfaraz scored 4056 runs at an average of 68.74, with 14 centuries and 13 fifties, with the best score being 301 not out.
(With ANI Inputs)
India Cricket Team