Ignored Indian cricket team batter Sarfaraz Khan believes that all Mumbai cricketers should play the Kanga League competition. Sarfaraz turned up for the tournament that is held during Mumbai’s monsson season and said that cricketers should not skip it due to the fear of failure.
Sarfaraz was ignored by the BCCI selectors for the five-match Test series against England but the youngster found himself in the headlines due to his stunning body transformation. Sarfaraz scored 61 off 42 deliveries while playing for Parkophone Cricketers during the match against Islam Gymkhana. It was a big statement of intent from the cricketer who is looking to regain his spot in the Indian cricket team and he namedropped Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar in his big message for Mumbai cricketers.
“I was so excited about this Kanga League match that the reporting time was 8.30am, but I reached at 8am only. More than being satisfied with my performance, I was delighted to be able to spend time in the middle. The pitch was not easy to bat on, and I even got hit on my helmet once. Also, there was a thick grass cover across the outfield so boundaries were hard to come by,” Sarfaraz told Mid-Day.
“During my childhood, I heard a lot of stories from my father [coach Naushad Khan] about how Sunil Gavaskar sir once turned up for a Kanga League match despite returning from England the same morning. So, Musheer [younger brother] and I have always taken pride in playing this tournament. While returning from Nagpur last evening [Saturday], we were hoping it won’t rain today. It rained a bit this morning, but when I reached Islam Gymkhana, the weather was good. I played my last Kanga League match three years ago. I was going through the league fixture book before this game and saw my name in it for scoring a century in 2018 and it felt nice,” Sarfaraz added.
Sarfaraz will be one of the names who will be considered while picking the squad for the two-match Test series against
“All Mumbai players should play [Kanga League]. Some players feel that if they fail here, it’ll be bad for their future. But if Gavaskar sir and Sachin Tendulkar sir thought the same way, they might not have gone on to become legends. If big players play in this tournament, it will be an inspiration for the city’s youngsters. Kanga League is such a tournament that if you succeed here, you can score runs anywhere in the world,” he concluded.