Sanjay Manjrekar heaped praise on Sarfaraz Khan, referring to the youngster’s composed batting in the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. Sarfaraz returned with a three-ball duck in the first innings when India were bundled out at 46. After New Zealand produced 402, the hosts once again came in to bat on Day 3. This time, Sarfaraz appeared in sublime form going on to score his debut Test century.
He smartly negotiated the opposition’s pace attack while playing some impressive shots against the spinner. His stroke play remained Manjrekar of legendary Pakistan batter Javen Miandad.
During an interaction with ESPN Cricinfo, the former Indian cricketer branded Sarfaraz as a new version of Miandad. “He (Sarfaraz) reminds me of a Javed Miandad of the 1980s but this is a 2024 version of a Javed Miandad. He really impressed me with the way he played. We know Sarfaraz plays spin well, but I liked the way he played fast bowlers,” Manjrekar said.
Manjrekar highlighted Sarfaraz’s approach in the final session on Day 3. Sarfaraz played more defensively as it was crucial for him to remain unbeaten till the stumps.
“Towards the end of the (third) day’s play when he was looking to play defensively and wanting bad light when there was actually bright light. I loved the way he was ducking to bouncers, just trying to play the day out so he has that game as well and that augurs well for India and Sarfaraz Khan for Australia because he has shown that element of batting as well,” Manjrekar explained.
Sarfaraz could survive the day but his batting partner Virat Kohli fell victim to Glenn Philips in the final over. The duo had put up a 136-run partnership following the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
While Kohli scored 70 off 102 balls, Sarfaraz stayed unbeaten at 70. The young batter didn’t take much time to complete his century on Day 4.
Sarfaraz was picked for the Bengaluru Test after Shubman Gill was ruled out due to a neck issue. Sarfaraz was part of the Indian squad for the previous series against Bangladesh. He, however, didn’t get any opportunity to feature in the playing eleven.
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