How Sarfaraz followed Gavaskar’s advice of 2009 on his debut in 2024 Rajkot Test

It was Sarfaraz Khan’s dream to meet the great Gavaskar and he was mightily impressed when Sunny spoke to him for nearly 20 minutes giving him some invaluable tips. Gavaskar told him not to look at the scoreboard while batting

By K.R. Nayar from Dubai

I have been fortunate to witness many a cricketer performing brilliantly as youngsters, from Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, before they became legendary Test cricketers. While they have worked hard to achieve that status, I never got to see them train, even though I have been with them for many days. However, Sarfaraz Khan, who on his Test debut in Rajkot earlier this week created ripples through two consecutive half-centuries, had given me the opportunity to witness his training sessions eight years ago.

Khan was part of the G Force training camp conducted by coach Gopal Jasapara at Epsom College in England in 2016. Cricket enthusiast Shyam Bhatia had sponsored Sarfaraz Khan and his younger brother Musheer Khan’s trip so that they could be at this camp. I saw the two brothers train hard for many days from dawn to dusk. The result is that Sarfraz made it to the Indian Test team and Musheer has become a prolific run-getter for the India Under-19 team. The day is not far when these two brothers will become part of the Indian senior team.

The first time I heard about Sarfaraz was when, in 2009, he broke Tendulkar’s school record scoring 439 in an inter-school match in Mumbai hitting 56 boundaries and 12 sixes.

After that feat, I spoke to Sarfaraz and wrote a story in the Gulf News. On reading this story, Bhatia, who always encourages budding talent, mentioned his interest in contacting Sarfaraz. After speaking to Naushad Khan, the boy’s father, Bhatia flew to Mumbai and presented Sarfaraz with a cricket kit and offered him a scholarship for his studies and training.

The cricket kit was presented to him by Kiran More and Zaheer Khan at the Cricket Club of India at a function. Bhatia then helped the boy realise his dream of meeting the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Sarfaraz’s father, Naushad, used to play in UAE’s domestic cricket in the early eighties representing Mashreq Bank in the Sharjah cricket tournaments during his working days here.

There is an interesting story about why Sarfaraz’s two knocks of 60s are special. In 2009, I had written about Sarfaraz meeting Gavaskar as was told to me by Bhatia. Talking about Sarfaraz’s joy on meeting Gavaskar, Bhatia had said, “It was a pleasure to see the excitement in the boy’s eyes. It was his dream to meet Gavaskar. The boy was highly motivated as Gavaskar spoke to him for nearly 20 minutes and gave him some vital tips. He advised him not to look at the scoreboard while batting, telling him that he would automatically know of his half-century when the crowd applauds. Gavaskar also advised him not to expect to score 400 or 200 runs every time he bats. Even a short knock of 60 runs in the process of his team’s victory should be considered a valuable contribution.”

Interestingly, it is this advice given to him in 2009 that Sarfaraz carried with him into the Rajkot Test match. He scored two knocks of 60s, and both his knocks were vital in India’s triumph over England.

Whenever Sarfaraz and his brother perform well, Naushad makes it a point to inform me immediately. And I make it a point to respond to him with all my best wishes for more success to come their way.

Amidst the tears and toil to get both his sons to represent Team India, is a father who encouraged them constantly to chase their dreams.

(Story and main picture on top of Sarfaraz Khan meeting Sunil Gavaskar for the first time with Shyam Bhatia, courtesy krbuzz.blogspot.com)