Ignored Despite 69+ Average, Sarfaraz Khan Makes Heads Turn With Latest Knock In Ranji Trophy

Mumbai-based batter Sarfaraz Khan once again made the headlines with his performance. Playing for India A in the ongoing two-day practice match against England Lions, Sarfaraz smashed 96 off 110 balls. His knock, which consisted of 11 boundaries and one six, came exactly after the day when India's squad for the first two Tests against England was announced and he was once again overlooked. Sarfaraz has been consistently performing well in the domestic cricket but is yet to make his international debut.

Talking about his performance, Sarfaraz has scored 556 runs in six games at an average of 92.66 in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy campaign with the help of three centuries. In the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season, he had 982 runs at an average of 122.75. Overall, he has an average of 69.6 in First Class cricket.

Earlier in December, the 26-year-old batter also smashed a century off 63 balls during India's three-day intra-squad practice match in Pretoria. He played this knock against the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana.

Coming to this match, England Lions got bundled out for 233 after opting to bat first. Manav Suthar scalped three wickets for India A. Later, Rajat Patidar scored 111 while Sarfaraz smashed 96 runs as India's score read at 411/6 at tea.

Apart rom them, wicketkeeper--batters KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel also scored 64 and 50 runs, respectively for India A.

India's senior team squad for the first two Tests against England was announced on Friday, where Jurel earned his maiden international call-up.

It will be five-match Test series against England, which kick-start from January 25 in Hyderabad.

India's squad for first two Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul