500 balls in nets per day and 1,600 kilometers in a vehicle was how Sarfaraz learned to spin

It wasn’t a fluke when Sarfaraz Khan destroyed the spinners in England in his very first Test match. It was the result of more than 15 years of arduous labor, including 500 deliveries each day while being closely supervised by his fervent father Naushad Khan.

Sarfaraz proved he is a member of the Indian squad for the long haul with two assured half-centuries in his maiden Test match in Rajkot. After years of arduous work on the local circuit and at his father’s “Macho Cricket Club,” the 26-year-old was awarded a Test cap.

In Rajkot, the diligent efforts and methodical preparation of the previous several years, particularly during the two COVID-19 lockdowns, paid off against players like as Tom Hartley, Joe Root, and Rehan Ahmed.

A coach who has seen the Mumbaikar’s development up close said, “It has taken playing 500 deliveries per day from off, leg, and left-arm spinners across Oval, Cross, and Azad Maidans in Mumbai.”

“…he drove 1600 kilometers during the COVID blackout. He went from Mumbai to Amroha, Moradabad, Meerut, Kanpur, Mathura, and Dehradun, where he played on the fabled “akhadas,” where some players shoot up and others remain down as the ball becomes square,” he said.

The Sarfaraz who was deftly manipulating the spinners had learned his trade the hard way. But Naushad isn’t the only one who deserves recognition for the finished result.

The coaches of Gautam Gambhir (Sanjay Bhardwaj), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Sanjay Rastogi), Mohammed Shami (Badruddin Sheikh), Kuldeep Yadav (Kapil Deo Pandey), and father of India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (RP Easwaran) have also made a little but significant contribution to the final product that is Sarfaraz.

Sarfaraz’s net workouts against spinners were organized by all of them, particularly during the COVID lockdown.

Since Naushad and I are both from Azamgarh and used to play club cricket together in Mumbai while I worked for the Indian Navy, Naushad phoned me during the lockdown. I thought it was my responsibility to help him when he wanted his kid to get practice, Kapil Pandey said to PTI.

At our Kanpur Academy, Sarfaraz often played Kuldeep during lockdown. They participated in several online meetings. Since the primary competition that season was the Mushtaq Ali T20, I would set up T20 matches,” he said.

He said, “Sarfaraz has the ideal game against spin and uses his feet well, having grown up playing on the red soil of Mumbai.”

Badruddin, Shami’s coach, also discussed how he assisted Sarfaraz in becoming a spin expert.

Yes, I set up his nets and training in Ahmedabad. Undoubtedly, the father and son put in a lot of effort. I persuaded him to play a bunch of games and made arrangements for him to stay in a dorm.”

Sarfaraz and India U-19 star Musheer, two more coaches who have seen Naushad train his boys, spoke about the intense training schedule that the two players had to follow even on days when they weren’t playing.

He has been playing hundreds of balls since he was a little child. Sarfaraz rehearsed against pacers on an artificial turf surface that Naushad set up at home when Mumbai had no match. However, they go to the Maidans and engage in open field training the instant he has to play spin,” he said.

Sarfaraz would get simulation training from Naushad even for red-ball training. The bowlers would be required to make roughs with spikes and then play on a track that resembled a day four pitch with broad cracks, he continued, if Mumbai were to play Tamil Nadu in Chennai.

Sarfaraz’s dominant approach against the visiting spinners in Rajkot made it clear that the team effort had yielded the intended results.