India and Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan stated on Saturday that he isn’t “frustrated at all” about not scoring as much this season as he often does in domestic cricket and that his batting style doesn’t need to be altered.
Sarfaraz has had a difficult Ranji Trophy season thus far, managing just 111 runs at 22.20 in four games without a single fifty, with his exclusion from the Indian Test team in the backdrop.
For the high standards he set in the Ranji Trophy in the seasons leading up to his India Test call-up, the right-hander’s returns are in fact low. Sarfaraz scored 556 runs at 92.66 in six games during the 2022–2023 season, 982 runs at 122.75 in six games during the 2021–2022 season, and 928 runs at 154.66 in six games during the 2019–20 season prior to that.
“I do not think I need to change anything because I am doing good. I have always played a lot of balls and even now I try to practice as much as I can,” he said ahead of the clash against Pondicherry.
“One cannot score runs in every single match. The past four seasons well and sometimes a batter loses his wicket despite playing well. But we can always get back to scoring runs,” he said.
Sarfaraz stated he is not at all dissatisfied with his batting returns, but being left out of the Indian Test team may perhaps have played a role.
“There is no frustration at all. If you look at my record, I have scored a lot of runs. People have one season in four years where they make a thousand runs but maine chaar-paanch saal daba ke runs banaye hain (I have made plenty of runs for 4-5 years),” he said.
Shardul Thakur’s altruistic approach to Mumbai captaincy was commended by Sarfaraz.
“Sometimes, if the wicket is not for fast bowling he would not bowl himself because ‘I am the captain and if I take wickets, I also have a career (to look after)’,” he said.
“He does not think like that and for the last 10-12 years I have also been playing the Ranji Trophy and this is the difference I have seen that he prioritises Mumbai cricket first and then himself.”
“I have played under a lot of captains and with Shardul, the plus-point is that he keeps the team in front. Once you have played for India, you want to have more opportunities in the back of the mind and I must do well to move ahead. But he doesn’t have anything like that in his mind and he keeps the team ahead,” Sarfaraz added.
