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Sarfaraz Naushad Khan (born October 27, 1997 ) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy and for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Nicknamed Panda for his love of food, Sarfaraz has represented India in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2014 and 2016. The 21 year old is an aggressive right handed batsman and a part time spinner. He is the youngest player to play an IPL match and is the only uncapped player to be retained by a franchise in the IPL. . He has made it to the prestigious Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack along with his younger brother Musheer in the year 2012.

YOUTH AND DOMESTIC CAREER:

Sarfaraz was born and brought up in the suburbs of Mumbai. He spent most of his childhood in a tent in Azad Maidan where Naushad Khan, his father and coach used to groom young talents there. His father is responsible for discovery of young talents like Iqbal Abdulla and Kamran Khan. Sarfaraz used to stay and sleep in the tent and it wasn't surprising that he was interested in cricket. His coaching began at an early age when his father discovered his talent of timing the ball well. In monsoon it was difficult for him to reach the maidan (grounds) from his home in the suburbs. So a synthetic pitch was laid besides his house for his practice.

"Not only does it save our time and energy but it has also helped him get used to bouncier wickets that he will have to deal with later on," Naushad says.

He came into limelight when he broke a 45 year old record of Sachin Tendulkar by scoring 439 off 421 balls in Harris Shield game. It was his maiden Harris Shield game in 2009 when he was just 12 years old. He was playing for his school, Rizvi Springfield and scored 56 fours and 12 sixes in the innings. He started playing for the Mumbai Under-19 team and his performance for the Mumbai Under-19 team led him to be a part of Indian Under-19 team.

In 2013 he scored a match-winning 66 ball 101 against South Africa Under 19, which included 17 fours and a six. India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun who was the head coach of the Under 19 team at that time praised him for the knock.”He is a gusty player, who reads the situation well. He has shots all around the wicket and looks even better when playing straight. He uses his feet well and plays cheeky strokes too,” Arun told TOI after that innings.

Sarfaraz has played for India in two Under-19 World Cups (2014 and 2016). The 2014 Under-19 World Cup was played by 16 teams in a round robin format where India finished at the 5th position. In this World Cup he scored 211 runs in six games at an average of 70.33. He scored two fifties in the tournament with a tournament strike rate of 105.5. After this performance, IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for 50 lakhs in the year 2015. India finished as runners up in the 2016 Under 19 World Cup in Bangladesh. In the tournament Sarfaraz finished as the the second highest run scorer. He scored 355 runs from six innings, with five scores of 50+ and at an average of 71. At the Under-19 level he has the record for most number of fifties in World Cups (7 fifties across two world cups).

Sarfaraz started his Ranji career with Mumbai when he played against Bengal in 2014.He started playing for Uttar Pradesh from the 2015-2016 season. Till now he has played 11 first-class matches and has scored 535 runs with the highest score of 155. He has also played 12 list A matches and has scored 257 runs at a strike rate of 96.25.

PROBLEMS AND CONTROVERSIES:

He was accused of being overage by a school team in 2011. As per the results of the test conducted, his age showed 15 years but according to the birth date registered with the Mumbai cricket association he was 13 years old. Sarfaraz and his father went for an advanced test where his age matched with the registered birth date. Sarfaraz was disturbed by this controversy and had to consult a psychiatrist. It took him 2-3 months to get his focus back on cricket.

In 2015 Sarfaraz made some offensive gestures to the selectors after leading his team to victory in a semifinal match. As a result of this he was dropped from the team and along with Suryakumar Yadav his match fees for two years was withhold as an assurance for his good behavior.

He was unable to attend school for 4 years due to his cricket commitments, so a private tutor was employed for his math and English classes.

INDIAN PREMIERE LEAGUE:

After a good performance in the 2014 U-19 world cup, Sarfaraz khan was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2015 for 50 lakhs. He is the youngest to have ever played an IPL match at the age of 17. RCB played a gamble on this young lad from Mumbai because of his quick scoring ability. In his debut game against Chennai Super Kings, he scored 11 runs off 7 balls. With the trio of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers dominating in the next two matches he didn't get a chance to bat. In the next match he came into limelight when he outshone the trio and scored 45 runs off 21 balls against Rajasthan Royals. In the innings he has scored six fours and a six and helped RCB to post a massive total. Virat Kohli bowed down to him after the innings while he was walking back to the dressing room. In this edition of IPL, he played 13 matches and scored 111 runs at a strike rate of 156.33.

He started the 2016 season with a bang when he played a cameo of 35 runs off 10 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the 19th over he went after Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, the best bowler of the tournament and scored 4 fours and a six.

"He's too young and he's like a son to me. He's definitely one for the future and one must keep an eye on him" revealed a delighted Chris Gayle.

He kept scoring such cameos in the season for RCB. Eventually he was dropped from the team due to his lack of fitness. In this season he played 5 matches and scored 66 runs at a strike rate of 212.90. In the 2017 season he got injured during a training session and had to miss the entire session due to leg injury.

RCB in a surprising move retained Sarfaraz Khan over the likes of Chris Gayle, K L Rahul and Yuzvendra Chahal for the 2018 season. Sarfaraz had a poor season and managed to score only 51 runs from six innings at a strike rate of 124.39. He was eventually released by RCB ahead of the 2019 season.

Kings XI Punjab picked him up for the next season for just 25 lakhs. Having his former RCB team-mates like K L Rahul, Chris Gayle and Mandeep Singh helped him through this transfer. He scored 180 runs from eight matches at an average of 45 and a high score of 67 runs.