{"id":573087,"date":"2025-11-16T00:57:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T00:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/573087\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T00:57:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T00:57:22","slug":"poor-form-fails-to-faze-sarfaraz-khan-people-enjoy-1000-run-seasons-once-in-four-years-but-ive-scored-plenty-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/573087\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor form fails to faze Sarfaraz Khan: \u2018People enjoy 1000-run seasons once in four years, (but) I\u2019ve scored plenty… \u2019 | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PoorSarfaraz Khan has sent out a bold statement on his form ahead of the Ranji Trophy match against Pondicherry (Image via X\/Screengrab) Mumbai: This is turning out to be an indifferent season for Sarfaraz Khan<\/a>. For a man who has scored 16 hundreds in first-class cricket and boasts of an average of 63.10 and a run tally of 4796 runs in 59 matches, the 28-year-old is yet to cross fifty so far in this Ranji Trophy season, having made severely underwhelming scores of 42, 32, 1, 15, 5 not out & 16 in four matches. Overall, Mumbai\u2019s domestic run-machine has scored just 111 runs in four matches at the rate of 22.20 this season.In contrast, Sarfaraz\u2019s teammate Siddhesh Lad, with 360 runs in four matches, at a 72.00 strike rate, including two hundreds (127 in this match) and a fifty, is the top run-getter for Mumbai so far. Sarfaraz\u2019s younger brother Musheer Khan has made scores of 112, 49 & 63 in his three innings.<\/p>\n

Atul Wassan criticises Congress leader Shama Mohamed for comments on Sarfaraz Khan<\/p>\n

However, the batter doesn\u2019t seem flustered by his rare average run in domestic cricket.\u201cYou can\u2019t score runs in every match. I scored so many runs in the last four seasons. Sometimes, you go through a period when you lose your wicket despite playing well. Everyone in our team is scoring runs and taking wickets, doing well. The important thing is that we\u2019ve to win the Ranji Trophy,\u201d Sarfaraz told reporters at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday, a day before Mumbai take on Pondicherry at the venue in an Elite Group D clash. Is he frustrated due to lack of runs of late? \u201cI\u2019m not frustrated at all. If you see my record, I\u2019ve scored a lot of runs. People enjoy a 1000-run season once in four years..in the last four-five years <\/p>\n

maine daba ke <\/p>\n

run<\/p>\n

s banaye hain<\/p>\n

(I\u2019ve scored plenty of runs in the last four-five years.) It\u2019s just that I haven\u2019t scored too many runs in two-three matches. That doesn\u2019t make a difference,\u201d Sarfaraz said. Exuding confidence in his playing style, Sarfaraz said, \u201cI don\u2019t think that I need to change anything (in my batting), because I\u2019m doing good. I\u2019m just trying to do what I\u2019ve always done-practice hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Thakur a selfless captain\u2019<\/p>\n

Sarfarz was all praise for Mumbai\u2019s captain this season, India all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who he felt \u201ckeeps team before himself,\u201d a quality the batter said marks the pacer out from the other Mumbai captains he has played under. \u201cWe\u2019ve a very good captain. Shardul bhai is doing a great job. I\u2019m very happy that Mumbai has got a captain like Shardul, who is selfless and keeps the team before himself. If he notices that a wicket isn\u2019t helpful for the pacers, he wouldn\u2019t insist on bowling himself, since he\u2019s the captain, or he too has to look after his career. He doesn\u2019t think like that at all. He prioritises the Mumbai team over his personal goals. I\u2019ve been playing in the Ranji Trophy for the past 10-12 seasons now, and have played under a lot of captains, but I\u2019ve noticed that difference in him: He prioritises Mumbai cricket over himself.\u201d \u201cAt the back of your mind, you want to take more opportunities, do well and play at a higher level. However, Shardul doesn\u2019t think like that. The Mumbai team comes first for him,\u201d the batter complimented. Illustrating his point about Thakur, Sarfaraz said, \u201cIf you notice, he has batted as low as No 8 or No 9 this season. After bowling just two overs, he takes himself off the attack because he knows that it isn\u2019t a wicket conducive for the fast bowlers. It shows that there\u2019s just one thing in his mind: \u2018How to win the Ranji Trophy.\u2019 I\u2019m enjoying playing under such a captain.\u201d Opening up on the bonding in the Mumbai team, Sarfaraz said, \u201cI wasn\u2019t playing for Mumbai in the past two years as I was in the Indian team. Our team is very united. We train together. Even we play in Mumbai, we stay in a hotel together, rather than in our homes.\u201d Sarfaraz seemed excited by the fact that Mumbai will playing at the Wankhede for the first time in 19 months-they last turned out at the Wankhede in the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha in March 2024, which they won by 169 runs to clinch their 42nd title. Since the last two seasons, Mumbai have preferred to play on the turning track at the MCA ground in BKC. \u201cWe are playing at the Wankhede after a long time, so I\u2019m feeling good. It\u2019s a nice green top wicket, and we\u2019ll be playing on such a pitch after a long time. Our team is playing very well. We have accumulated 17 points in four matches, and scored outright wins in two games (over Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal). We plan to continue this momentum,\u201d Sarfaraz said. Two of Pondicherry\u2019s players-their captain-cum-coach-cum mentor, veteran left-arm spinner Sagar Udeshi, who plays for Parsee Gymkhana in local cricket, and batter Aman Khan, are former Mumbai cricketers. \u201cWe\u2019ve played a lot against each other and we know each other well. I\u2019ve practiced against Udeshi at Azad maidan and at Fort Vijay,\u201d Sarfaraz said.<\/p>\n

Rahane to miss clash due to ‘back spasms’<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former captain Ajinkya Rahane will miss the clash against Pondicherry due to a back niggle, TOI has learnt. “Rahane is resting from this match as he is suffering from back spasms. In fact, his back was stiff during the previous match too,” a source revealed.<\/p>\n

Poll<\/p>\n

Do you think Sarfaraz Khan will bounce back and score a century this season?<\/p>\n

Rahane is likely to be replaced at the No 3 spot by opener Akhil Herwadkar. Rahane has scored 209 runs in four matches at a 34.83 strike rate in the 2025-26 edition of the Ranji Trophy so far, with 159 against Chhattisgarh being his highest score. The 31-year-old Herwadkar has scored 2483 runs in 41 first-class maches at the rate of 36.51, with seven hundreds and 10 fifties. The left-hander played for Chhattisgarh in the 2022-23 season, before moving back to Mumbai. With 17 points in four matches, Mumbai are topping the eight-team Group D. They thrashed Himachal by an innings & 120 runs in their last match at the MCA ground in BKC last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarfaraz Khan has sent out a bold statement on his form ahead of the Ranji Trophy match against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[1406,181772,181771,181770,181766,51375,181767,106023,181768,181769,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-573087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-mumbai-pondicherry","10":"tag-mumbai-ranji-trpohy","11":"tag-ranji-trophy-sarfaraz","12":"tag-sarfaraz","13":"tag-sarfaraz-khan","14":"tag-sarfaraz-khan-form","15":"tag-sarfaraz-khan-news","16":"tag-sarfaraz-khan-ranji","17":"tag-sarfaraz-khan-ranji-trophy","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115556663139662531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}