Sarfaraz Khan

Mumbai have always done and continue to nurture young prodigies in the world of cricket. One such cricketer is going around by the name of Sarfaraz Naushad Khan. He came into the scene when he made news for smashing 439 runs in his maiden Haris Shield game in 2009. As much as that made him feature in good news, he was also embroiled in a controversy which accused him of fudging his age, before an advanced test revealed otherwise, which was accepted by the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Eventually, he was a part of the Mumbai U-19 side. Some decent outings there led to his inclusion in the Indian U-19 team. He had a good outing in the quadrangular U-19 series involving the Under-19 teams of South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe apart from India. That eventually paved way for him to represent India in the Under-19 World Cup in 2014. He batted freely with an average of over 70 and a strike rate in excess of 100. This was not a one-off instance, as in the next edition of the U-19 World Cup, he was the second highest run-scorer in the competition.

With some good exploits behind him, expectations about Sarfaraz making it to the highest level began to soar. The first step in that direction was taken when he was picked up by the Bengaluru franchise in the Indian Twenty20 League in 2015. He displayed his cheeky aggressiveness when he was often sent lower down the order to finish the innings.

In July 2015, Sarfaraz left Mumbai and joined Uttar Pradesh for the 2015-16 domestic season. That the investment on him was not just one-off, it was seen by the fact that he was one of Bangalore’s three retentions going into the auction for the 2018 Indian T20 League. He had been a part of Bangalore's squad since 2015 but in December 2018, he was bought by Punjab in the player auction for the 2019 Indian T20 League and continues to remain with them.