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MUMBAI: Long before he took the cricket world by storm by destroying the world’s best bowlers with a barrage of sixes. Rajasthan Royals In IPL, Sarfraz Khanthe ‘run machine’ of domestic cricket, Vaibhav Surivanshi was impressed by his first glimpse. It was in January 2024, when the explosive batsman, now 15, made his debut for Bihar against a formidable Mumbai side at the age of 12 years and 284 days, at the start of the 2024-25 season, becoming the youngest Indian first-class debutant in decades. Ranji Trophy MatchSuryavanshi was dismissed for 19 and 12, with Shivam Dubey and Tanush Kotian dismissing him, as Bihar went down by an innings and 51 runs, but Sarfaraz liked what he saw of the batsman, who would step up. Chris GayleA record of 59 sixes in the 2026 IPL season. “He is a very good friend of mine and we keep in touch. He is doing really well. I saw him for the first time during his Ranji Trophy debut against Mumbai. Even then I saw that he has a lot of skill. Wankhede Stadium from Monday,” Sarfaraz told reporters at the jersey launch of Mumbai Western Suburbs’ Akash Tigers in the C20 League on Friday. Apart from Sarfraz Khan, Akash Tigers women’s team captain Humira Qazi and mentors Parveen Amre and Leah Francis were present on the occasion.Sarfraz felt that it was the “mindset” that made Suryavanshi different from others. “His mindset and preparation is different. Anyone can be successful if he works hard enough. He has worked very hard on his game,” said the 28-year-old Mumbaikar.A return to the IPL on the back of impressive performances for Mumbai in the 2025–26 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (329 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 203.08 and an average of 65.80 batting at No. 3) and then in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Sarfraz at Chennai Super Kings 2020. 75 lakhs he scored 161 runs in eight matches at 23.00, at a strike rate of 169.47, with one fifty in the season. Showing off his much-improved fitness and fielding skills, the middle-order batsman also took some brilliant catches. “I like to work hard. I don’t like to sit idle. I felt that I needed to improve my white-ball game, so I worked on it and also focused on my fitness. The results have been positive. You can never be completely satisfied in cricket.” The biggest challenge for me was making a comeback. I needed to improve my strike rate and fitness. This is one of the reasons why I stayed out of IPL for two years. I worked hard on fitness, fielding and batting and got good results. I will keep improving,” asserted Sarfraz.He added, “For the last three years, I have been constantly trying to improve. Every season I work on something new so that the selectors can see the progress in my game. My focus is always on upgrading my game every season”.Midway through the IPL season, Sarfraz lost his place in the CSK XI to Gujarat’s hard-hitting batsman Arul Patel. “First of all, I feel very lucky to be a part of CSK. I spent two months there and learned a lot. We used to sit together, discuss cricket, and always try to learn new things. One thing I have learned is to keep things simple,” said Sarfraz, who will lead Akash Tigers in Season 4 of the T20 Mumbai League. Will lead.On Thursday, Mumbai’s veteran middle-order batsman Siddesh Lad had created a stir by saying that IPL performance is now being weighted more for India’s selection. Sarfaraz’s stand on this issue was different. “Whether it’s IPL or any other tournament, your job is to perform. The selectors will do their job; the players have to focus on themselves,” he felt.With the arrival of monsoon, rain may affect the first half of the T20 Mumbai League. Amre felt the players would adapt to the wickets, which, as Ladd said the other day, might be a bit damp and not very batting-friendly, but Amre said, “Mumbai cricketers are used to playing in all kinds of conditions and wickets, so I think they will adapt well.”
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