Mumbai batter Sarafaraz Khan scored yet another hundred in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022-23 on Tuesday to make his case even stronger for a national call-up in red-ball cricket.
Sarfaraz brought up his 13th first-class hundred to help Mumbai recover in their Elite Group B match against Delhi. His 155-ball 125 was laced with 16 fours and four sixes.
Sarfaraz's reaction after the century was pure delight for cricket and music fans as he paid tribute to late Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala by doing his iconic thigh-five celebration on the field.
Mumbai coach Amol Mazumdar meanwhile, took his hat off as he stood up to applaud another gem of an innings from Sarfaraz.
Sarfaraz Khan's mind-boggling numbers
Sarfaraz has hit 10 hundreds in the Ranji Trophy since 2019 for Mumbai which includes a triple century and a double hundred as well. But the 25-year-old continues to be ignored by the BCCI selectors despite his rich vein of form in red-ball cricket.
He was once again overlooked by the national selectors for India's four-Test series against Australia. The Indo-Aussie rivalry in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will resume next month in India but Sarfaraz will have to wait for his opportunity for now.
Sarfaraz didn't get a look into the Indian Test squad last year as well despite amassing 982 runs in the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 at an average of over 122. His first-class record after 53 innings is nothing short of legendary to say the least.
Sarfaraz has so far amassed 3,480 runs at 82.86 with 13 hundreds and a best of 301.
Mumbai bowled out for 293 despite Sarfaraz's 125
But Sarfaraz's knock was the only bright spot in the proceedings for Mumbai as they got bowled out for 293 on Day 1.
Mumbai were reduced to 66 for 4 when Sarfaraz came to the crease and bailed the team out of troubled waters before they once again faltered towards the end of day's play.
Medium fast bowler Pranshu Vijayran grabbed a four-wicket haul for Delhi while Harshit Rana and Yogesh Sharma took a couple of scalps each. Divij Mehra and Hrithik Shokeen were also among the wickets with one each.
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