Sarfaraz Khan slams his seventh First-class century: His incredible run
Middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan is enjoying his purple patch in First-class cricket. He slammed his seventh century in the format for Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Uttarakhand. Sarfaraz has smashed over 1,600 runs in his last 13 Ranji Trophy innings. It was the third three-figure score for the 24-year-old in the last four FC games. Here are the key stats.
Mumbai were off to a steady start after electing to bat in the second quarter-final at the KSCA Cricket Ground, Alur. They were reduced to 176/3 before Suved Parkar and Sarfaraz Khan added 267 runs. The latter raced to his ton on Day 2, while Parkar slammed his maiden double-century. Mumbai eventually declared on 647/8 in the first innings.
Sarfaraz brought up his seventh FC ton at a quick rate. He went on to score 153 off just 205 balls with the help of 14 fours and 4 sixes. Notably, Sarfaraz and Parkar together smacked 35 fours in the innings.
Sarfaraz has been on a roll in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. He is the leading run-scorer, having slammed 704 runs from just five innings at an astronomical average of 140.80. The tally includes three centuries, one double-century, and a half-century. His scores in the season read as 275 (401), 63 (110), 48 (72), 165 (181), and 153 (205).
It is to note that Sarfaraz has converted each of his seven FC centuries to a 150-plus score. A look at his seven three-figure scores: 153 vs Uttarakhand (2022), 165 v Odisha (2022), 275 vs Saurashtra (2022), 177 vs Madhya Pradesh (2020), 226* vs Himachal Pradesh (2020), 301* vs UP (2020), and 155 vs Madhya Pradesh (2015).
Sarfaraz now has the second-highest batting average in First-class cricket (80.42) among batters with minimum 2,000 runs. He is only behind Sir Donald Bradman, who recorded a staggering average of 95.14 in the format. Sarfaraz leaves behind India's Vijay Merchant on the list (71.64).
