Sarfaraz Khan scored a century in 76 balls in the intra squad match
Sarfaraz Khan continued his excellent form on English soil on the second day of the ongoing intra-squad warm-up match at Beckenham on Saturday. The 27-year-old batsman played an explosive innings of 101 runs in just 76 balls for India A against the main Indian Test team. His innings included 15 fours and 2 magnificent sixes.
Sarfraz was later retired out to allow other batsmen to bat. According to TOI, India A scored 299/6 by the end of the day in reply to India’s 459, with Ishan Kishan (45) and Shardul Thakur (19) remaining unbeaten.
Sarfaraz’s growing claim in England
This century of Sarfaraz further strengthens his growing reputation in English conditions. This performance has further strengthened his claim for the 5 Test match series starting from June 20. Earlier, he played an innings of 92 runs in an unofficial Test against England Lions. However, Sarfaraz’s name is not included in the main squad of the Indian Test team.
Early setbacks in India A’s innings
India A’s innings did not start well. Opener Rituraj Gaikwad was dismissed after scoring only 2 runs. He was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj with the new ball, and Rishabh Pant took a brilliant catch behind the wicket. After this, Abhimanyu Easwaran (39) and Sai Sudarshan (38), who are part of the upcoming Test team, handled the innings to some extent.
Performance of Indian bowlers
In the Indian bowling, Mohammed Siraj (2/86) and Prasidh Krishna (2/41) impressed by taking two wickets each. Nitish Kumar Reddy also got a wicket. However, key fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah could not take any wicket, conceding 36 runs in his 7 overs. Arshdeep Singh (0/52, 12 overs) also remained wicketless. Shubman Gill and KL Rahul had scored half-centuries for India on the first day.
