Sarfaraz Khan scored his first international hundred during the opening Test between India and New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. It took him seven innings to do so. Sarfaraz brought it up in 110 balls, smashing 13 fours and three sixes.
He replaced Shubman Gill, who is nursing a stiff neck, in the playing XI. The 26-year old made his Test debut against England in Rajkot earlier this year. In the first inning against the kiwis, he was out for a duck but made a terrific comeback in the second, making this the 22nd instance of an Indian batter registering a duck and a hundred in the same Test.
After the openers fell in quick succession, he built up a hundred plus stand with Virat Kohli for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed. Sarfaras is coming off a double century in the Irani Cup for Mumbai against Rest of India earlier this month. In first class cricket he has scored 15 centuries.
Sarfaraz had made it to the Indian team after constantly knocking at the selectors’ door with his consistency in domestic cricket. His current first-class numbers read 51 matches, 76 innings, 4422 runs, highest 301 not out, average 69.09,15 hundreds, 14 fifties.