I was surprised that RCB were willing to retain me: Sarfaraz Khan

The franchise-based team announced a three-cricketers list they want to retain for the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) ahead of the auctions. The mega-auction of the cash-rich IPL will take place at Bengaluru on January 27 & 28.

As expected, Royal Challengers retained their skipper Virat Kohli and the all-round batsman from South Africa AB de Villiers. However, the inclusion of young Sarfaraz Khan over Yuzvendra Chahal came as a surprise to everybody. Notably, Chahal has been the highest wicket-taker in T20Is this year.

The 20-year-old Sarfaraz was elated to hear the retention news and vowed to repay the faith the franchise had in him.

“First of all, I would like to thank the RCB management and Virat bhai for putting their trust in me and I would love to repay their faith,” he said to Sportskeeda.

The explosive batsman was a star for the Virat Kohli-led side in the 2015 IPL, in which he scored 111 runs at an extraordinary strike rate of 156.33 and put up an exhibition of 360-degree batting. However, he was axed from the squad in the next season on fitness ground after five matches.He suffered a knee injury after getting fitter and was ousted from the squad.

Sarfaraz was surprised when RCB’s team and Cricket Operations manager Avinash Vaidya called him and conveyed the news of his retention.

“I was thrilled when Avinash Vaidya sir called me. I was surprised that RCB were willing to retain me. Thanks to them, who, from my leg operation to the rehabilitation, took it all upon themselves financially. They paid 5 lakhs for my operation and made me recover from the injury,” Sarfaraz further said.

Sarfaraz has already proved his abilities in this format. After being out of the game for almost a year, a fitter Sarfaraz is hungry to score runs and make a case for himself.

“I didn’t set myself anything. I would want to stick to the basics. Whenever I get the chance, I will look to win matches for the team,” Sarfaraz signed off talking about his goal in this edition

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