Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar, heaped praise on Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan for his stunning performances with the bat in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022.
Sarfaraz has amassed 937 in eight innings thus far at an average of 133.85 in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022 and became just the third batter after Ajay Sharma (1991/92 & 1996/97) and Wasim Jaffer (2008/09 and 2018/19) to score more than 900 runs in a season.
He played a stunning knock of 134 runs laced with 13 fours and 2 sixes to take Mumbai to 374 in the first innings of the ongoing final against Madhya Pradesh.
Hailing the young batter for his performance in the Ranji Trophy, Manjrekar said that Sarfaraz is very deserving and close to selection in the Test team.
Sanjay Manjrekar said in a virtual interaction organized by Sony Sports: “Because of the way he bats and you sort of wonder whether he’s a potential kind of Test player. But the amount of runs he has got in two seasons; one is right about the daddy hundreds; he gets big scores and it comes very quickly at a great strike rate. Even if there is not a spot readily available as you want to try out the incumbents like Shreyas Iyer has grabbed the opportunity as a Test batter by scoring runs.”
With national selectors like Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh watching from the stands, one feels that they would have been impressed by the fighting spirit and perseverance shown by Sarfaraz in the final.
He added, “There’s absolutely no harm in getting Sarfaraz Khan closer to the Indian Test squad because when somebody performs this heavily at the Ranji Trophy level, it’s also to send a strong message that we care about Ranji Trophy cricket. You care about first-class cricket and when you recognize performances of Ranji Trophy cricket and reward players with inclusion at the Test level, the international level, then you elevate the importance of Ranji Trophy cricket. He is very deserving to coming very close of Test squad selection.”
(With IANS Inputs)
