Sarfaraz Khan: ‘Man with the Golden Bat’ has average of 81.61 next only to Bradman in FC cricket

Sarfaraz Khan scored 928 runs in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 season, 982 in Ranji Trophy 2021-22.

Sarfaraz scored 928 runs in Ranji 2019-20 season, 982 in 2021-22 (Images ©PTI)

Sarfaraz Khan, once a flamboyant young batter, who was known for his whirlwind T20 knocks, has now reached the path he was destined for. Fans still remember the days when he first burst on the scene at the age of only 17 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

The right-hand batter used to play quickfire innings with attractive and unconventional strokes. Later, he fell out of Mumbai camp and went on to play for Uttar Pradesh. Making a U-turn, he returned to Mumbai and had to wait for an opportunity in the star-studded line-up of the most successful Ranji side of the country.

Sarfaraz’s dream run in Ranji Trophy began in 2019-20

Once he got an opportunity in the 2019-20 season of Ranji Trophy, Sarfaraz took it with both hands and struck many gigantic scores. He played his first match in Ranji Trophy 2019-20 against Karnataka and scored an unbeaten knock of 71 runs. In the next match against Tamil Nadu, Sarfaraz couldn’t make any significant score, however, he hammered an elephantine triple century against Uttar Pradesh in the next match and never looked back since then. He smashed phenomenal knocks of 226* and 177 in the next two games. The Mumbai-born player, Sarfaraz Khan finished the 2019-20 season of Ranji Trophy with 928 runs from just six games at a staggering average of 154.67.

The next season of the Ranji Trophy was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic which spread across the globe. However, Sarfaraz kept toiling hard behind the scenes and gave a stunning performance in the last edition of Ranji Trophy.

Sarfaraz kicked off the 2021-22 season of Ranji Trophy season with a monumental knock of 275 runs against Saurashtra. The 24-year-old batter went onto score 165 against Odisha at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Also, he scored 153 in the quarter-final match against Uttarakhand and concluded the season with a stupendous century in the all-important Final against Madhya Pradesh at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, though it went in vain as Madhya Pradesh defeated Mumbai by six wickets to lift their maiden Ranji Trophy title.

Sarfaraz Khan finished the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 season as the top run-scorer among all players, with 982 runs from six matches with a phenomenal average of 122.75.

Read More: Ranji Trophy 2022 Final, Mumbai vs MP, Day 2: Sarfaraz Khan century takes Mumbai to 374; MP at 123-1

Sarfaraz carries ave of 81.61 next only to Bradman in FC cricket (Images ©PTI/Cricinfo)

Snapshot of Records set by Sarfaraz in First-Class Cricket

3 - Sarfaraz Khan is only the third player to amass 900-plus runs in two different seasons of the Ranji Trophy after Ajay Jadeja and Wasim Jaffer. Sarfaraz scored 928 runs in the 2019-20 edition of Ranji Trophy, then followed it with 982 runs in the 2021-22 edition of Ranji Trophy which concluded on June 26.

2 - Sarfaraz Khan has the second-highest average (81.61) in first-class cricket for any batter with 2000-plus runs in the format. Only legendary Don Bradman has a better first-class average than Sarfaraz. Bradman had scored a whopping 28,067 runs in first-class cricket at a staggering average of 95.14.

1 - It is obvious from the above record that among Indian players, Sarfaraz has the highest average (81.61) in first-class cricket, for any batter with 2000-plus runs in the format. The second highest is 71.64 registered by legendary Vijay Merchant who scored 13,470 runs in first-class cricket from 150 matches.

3 - Sarfaraz Khan has the third-highest average (82.1) in Ranji Trophy after only Vijay Merchant (98.4) and Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar (87.4), among players who have scored 2000-plus runs in the biggest first-class tournament of India.

Read More: Ranji Trophy 2022 Final, Mumbai vs MP, Day 5: Madhya Pradesh win first Ranji title; Kartikeya shines with 4-98

Sarfaraz finished Ranji Trophy 2021-22 season as the top run-scorer (Images ©PTI/Sportstar)

1 - Sarfaraz Khan scored 134 runs in the first innings of Ranji Trophy Final against Madhya Pradesh, which is the first time the batter failed to convert his hundred into a 150-plus score in first-class cricket among his eight centuries. His lowest century score before this was 153 against Uttarakhand in the quarter-final of this season.

1 - Sarfaraz Khan struck the highest number of sixes (19) in this season of Ranji Trophy. Manish Pandey is second on the list with 15 sixes in this edition of Ranji Trophy.

2 - Sarfaraz Khan smashed four centuries in this season of Ranji Trophy; only Chetan Bist struck more centuries (5) than the former in this season.

3 - Sarfaraz pummelled 93 fours in this season of Ranji Trophy, the third-highest among all batters, less than only Rajat Patidar (100) and Sakibul Gani (97).

4 - Among players who amassed 500-plus runs in this season of Ranji Trophy, Sarfaraz’s average of 122.75 is the fourth-highest after Chetan Bist (311.5), Sakibul Gani (150.25) and Taruwar Kohli (131.5).

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