"It was a bit tough to believe in the beginning"- Sarfaraz Khan on the moment he realized he was picked for India's Test team against England
Sarfaraz Khan has been named in India's squad for the second Test against England at Visakhapatnam, starting on February 2. He recently shared that he was with the India A team and was preparing to head back to the Ranji Trophy when he got the news.
Sarfaraz had been scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket. Many in the cricketing fraternity were relieved when he finally got his maiden Test call-up, as one of the replacements for the injured duo KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.
Sarfaraz Khan recently spoke in an interview about his and his family's emotions on getting to know that he had been picked for the Indian team. He said in a video published by BCCI on their website:
"I was about to go to play Ranji Trophy and had packed my India A clothes aside. Suddenly I got a call and came to know that I was selected. It was a bit tough to believe in the beginning. But then I called my father as he wasn't at home and he and the entire family were emotional."
He further added:
"I had a dream that my India A teammates were congratulating me and shaking my hand. It was a recurring dream that I will get selected in the Indian team and I am scoring runs. Whatever happens, happens for good. Whenever I play, it will be a dream come true."
Sarfaraz Khan is fresh off a fantastic 161 off just 160 balls for India A in the second multi-day game against the England Lions. With the form that he is in, the hosts could hand him a debut straight away and expect a positive impact.
Sarfaraz Khan on the importance of patience
Sarfaraz Khan had a couple of mind-boggling red-ball seasons under his belt and still had to wait for the maiden India call-up. While it would have been natural for any player to feel disheartened, he focused on remaining patient and kept on scoring more runs.
On this, he said:
"In the end, it's a game of patience. If we want to play Test cricket, we have to show patience. In life, there are times when we rush ourselves."
Sarfaraz averages a mind-boggling 69.85 after 45 first-class games, scoring 3912 runs and having as many as 14 hundreds to his name.