A day after being selected for India, Sarfaraz Khan names a better Indian batsman than him

Safaraz Khan received his maiden India call-up ahead of the second Test against England starting on February 2 in Visakhapatnam. India lost the first Test by 28 runs, and are trailing in the series and have dropped to the fifth position on the WTC points table.

Sarfaraz along with Washington Sundar and Saurabh Kumar were added to the Indian squad after KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were ruled out as injury concerns. Sarfaraz came in as a replacement for Rahul while Sundar was named a potential replacement for Ravindra Jadeja.

In terms of batting positions and the roles both these players play, both of them are expected to play in the second Test in Vizag. There is also Rajat Patidar in the side who replaced Virat Kohli for the first two Test matches.

Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo in an exclusive interview, Sarfaraz Khan spoke about his brother Musheer and the bond between the two after his maiden India call-up. Musheer is currently playing in the U-19 World Cup and has already stacked up 194 runs in three matches at an average of 64.67. He has scores of 3, 118, and 73.

Speaking about Musheer’s early days as an upcoming cricketer, Sarfaraz spoke about how he started as a bowler initially and then turned his interest towards becoming a batter. The elder brother narrated an incident when the two brothers batted for 300 balls despite Musheer bowling 300 balls first.

“If I batted 300 balls, Musheer would bat for 300 balls even if he’d done a lot of bowling, “Our middle brother, Moin, would do the throwdowns. Having two cricketers in the house, he decided to switch to training” said Sarfaraz.

Sarfaraz Khan Lauds Younger Brother Musheer

He then spoke about how his younger brother Musheer is better than him when it comes to technique, bat flow, and mannerisms.

“He’s a better batter than me. I’m not saying this because he’s my brother. Sometimes, I may be struggling but watching his technique and trying to work out what he’s doing would give me confidence. His mannerisms, and bat flow are very good. Sometimes when I’m not batting well, I look at him and learn” Sarfaraz added saying.

The Mumbai batter has staggering first-class numbers with 3912 runs in just 45 matches and just 66 innings. He scored 14 hundreds and 11 fifties in the meantime at an average of nearly 70.

Over the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, he has been nothing short of extraordinary. In the 2022-23 season, he amassed 556 runs across six games, boasting an impressive average of 92.66, which included three centuries. The previous season witnessed even more staggering numbers, with Sarfaraz piling up 982 runs at an astonishing average of 122.75.

Sarfaraz is known for playing unorthodox shots. He has proved it at the IPL level playing for RCB in one season. Still, he said that it is Musheer who is better at playing the reverse sweep. He admitted that is better at playing the sweep.

“Musheer’s reverse sweep is better than mine. Sweep, I think mine is better since I have better judgment that has come from experience. We always want the other to do better. Now when he bowls and I bat, there’s a lot of healthy competition” Sarfaraz concluded.

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