Sarfaraz Khan has had a topsy-turvy ride but his hard work over the past 3 years has finally paid off, as he was proud to join Mumbai’s elite triple-century club after hitting 301* in a Ranji Trophy 2020 game last week.
He was supposed to be brighter future during his U-19 days for Mumbai, but then he failed to make much impression that forced him to move to Uttar Pradesh for greener pastures, though, it didn't also work for the youngster, returning to Mumbai side ahead of this season.
In the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2019-2020 season, he peeled off a triple century for Mumbai against Uttar Pradesh and he was delighted to return to the home side in a style.
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Sarfaraz told ESPNCricinfo, “It’s a proud feeling to return and also join Mumbai’s triple-century club, alongside great players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Wasim Jaffer, and Rohit Sharma.”
The 22-year-old further revealed that he was hurt when the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) dropped him for the 2016 season because of his fitness. Well, since then his fitness and game have improved significantly thanks to his strict diet and training.
He said, “I was dropped at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2016 because of my fitness. Virat Kohli told me straightaway while there were no doubts over my skills, my fitness was not letting me get to the next level. He was very honest with me about where I was.”
Sarfaraz further explained, “I knew that is when I had to get fitter. So I started working out, running, doing a lot of cardio. I gave up sweets and tried to improve my eating habits. I won’t say I became obsessed with fitness, but I just made small changes to my diet. If I had two portions of something, I changed it to one portion, and gradually cut down on my intake of junk food.
I felt good not just about my improved fitness but because it helped me score runs and get a lead. At one point, all my team-mates used to call me ‘panda’ because I used to eat a lot. Now, they’ve started calling me ‘macho’. Actually, very few people know it’s my nickname now.”
The right-hander was retained by the Kings XI Punjab for the upcoming IPL 2020 after his brilliant last season with the team and even he said IPL 2019 was one of his best seasons so far.
He signed off by saying, “Being released from RCB hurt me in a way, but I couldn’t do much about it. I had one of the best IPLs so far with Kings XI Punjab last year. I was in the midst of my cooling-off period, so I knew that was my only chance to impress.”
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
