The secret of Sarfaraz Khan's brilliant spin playing is revealed, the coach told how he mastered the art of playing spin.

 

Sarfaraz Khan had been performing well in domestic cricket for a long time but still he was not getting a place in  the Indian team . However, after a long wait, he got a chance to debut in the third match of the 5-match Test series being played against England. He capitalized on this opportunity well and scored brilliant half-centuries in both the innings. During this, he played England spinners Tom Hartley, Joe Root, and Rehan Ahmed very well. The dominance that Sarfaraz was able to exert over the England spinners was the result of more than 15 years of hard work. He used to play 500 balls every day under the supervision of his father Naushad Khan.    

A coach who has closely followed Sarfaraz's growth said, "Played 500 balls a day of off, leg and left-arm spinners at the Oval, Cross and Azad grounds in Mumbai. During the (Covid) lockdown, he made a 1600 km car journey. From Mumbai to Amroha, Moradabad, Meerut, Kanpur, Mathura and Dehradun, he traveled and played in proverbial 'akharas' where the ball turns a lot, with some balls having a lot of bounce and some staying low. "

Sarfaraz, who plays spinners with ease, is working hard to improve his skills. The credit for preparing Sarfaraz does not go only to his father Naushad Khan, other coaches have also contributed. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's coach Sanjay Rastogi), Mohammed Shami's coach Badruddin Shaikh, Kuldeep Yadav's coach Kapil Dev Pandey, Gautam Gambhir's coach Sanjay Bhardwaj and RP Easwaran, father of India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran, also played their part in preparing Sarfaraz. The contribution is two. 

All of them arranged for Sarfaraz's net sessions against the spinners, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown. Kuldeep's coach Kapil Pandey told PTI, "During the lockdown, Naushad called me because we both are from Azamgarh and we played club cricket in Mumbai when I was serving in the Indian Navy. So, when he wanted His son should get practice, so I felt it was my duty." 

Kapil further said, "Sarfaraz played a lot with Kuldeep in our Kanpur academy during the lockdown. They did many net sessions together. I will arrange T20 matches as Mushtaq Ali T20 was the main tournament in that season. Red soil of Mumbai. But having grown up playing, Sarfaraz has an excellent game against spin and uses his feet well."

Shami's coach Badruddin also told Sarfaraz about his role in mastering spin. He said, "Yes, I arranged for his training and nets in Moradabad. There is no doubt that both father and son worked hard. I arranged for his stay in a hostel and treated him to many matches.

Another coach who has seen Naushad training his sons - Sarfaraz and India Under-19 star Musheer. He talked about the rigorous training regime that both the players had to endure even on non-match days. He said, "He has been playing hundreds of balls since a young age. So when there was no Mumbai match, Naushad prepared an Astro Turf wicket at home, where Sarfaraz practiced against fast bowlers. But as soon as he Spin has to be played, they go to the field and train in the open field."

He further added, "Even for red-ball training, Naushad used to give simulation training to Sarfaraz. Suppose Mumbai plays Tamil Nadu in Chennai, the bowlers will be asked to make rough with spikes and Then he will be asked to play on a track that looks like a fourth-day pitch with wide cracks." All this hard work was seen in the test match played against England in Rajkot. Sarfaraz played half-centuries of 62 (66) runs in the first innings and unbeaten 68 (72) runs in the second innings.