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Wonderkid Sarfaraz Khan gets Ranji nod

17-year-old makes 15-member squad for Mumbai's Group 'A' encounter against Bengal starting on Sunday

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Sarfaraz Khan
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On Thursday, when Naushad Khan heard the news of his son, Sarfaraz Khan, being picked for Mumbai's Ranji Trophy game against Bengal in Kolkata (December 28-31), he became emotional.

He couldn't thank the Almighty enough for giving his son the opportunity of wearing the famed 'Lion Crest'. "Allah Shukr," he said. "We are thankful to the Mumbai selectors for giving my boy the opportunity and I hope he does exceedingly well. A Mumbai cap is a proud moment for local cricketers like us," Khan told dna.

Khan has been working on his boy since the age of six. Today, he is 17. And in all these years, the father-son duo has never missed a single day of practice. Travelling from Kurla to Azad Maidan on a motorcycle, they would hit the ground running before sunrise. So much so that Sarfaraz would play a match or attend school only after batting at the nets.

Sarfaraz, who has earned praise from the likes of Greg Chappell, has been knocking on the doors of the Mumbai dressing room for some time. Apart from being the record books in local cricket — youngest to play in the Kanga League (his eight-year-old brother, Musheer Khan, holds that record now) to scoring slamming a mammoth 439 in the Harris Shield — Sarfaraz also represented India at the Under-19 level.

During the quadrangular tournament preceding the ICC Under-19 World Cup last year, he stole the limelight with a 66-ball century against South Africa. Although, India did not win the Under-19 World Cup in Dubai, the Mumbai lad did not fail to impress. He garnered 211 in six games with two half centuries.

Having impressed one and all with his batting skills, it is time for the middle-order bat to prove his abilities at the first-class level. "I could not make it to the Ranji team, but I am sure he will be able to deliver. He has got the potential and Inshallah he will prove it," said Khan.

Apart from getting Sarfaraz into the side, the Mumbai selectors made some wholesome changes in the team. The selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, dropped six players from the side which defeated Uttar Pradesh.

Hiken Shah, Bravish Shetty, Praful Waghela, Sushant Marathe, Vishal Dabholkar and Kevin Almeida were axed. Shrideep Mangela, Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Sarfaraz and Iqbal Abdullah have been included.

SQUAD: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Nayar, Aditya Tare, Shrideep Mangela, Siddhesh Lad, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Sufiyan Shaikh, Sarfaraz Khan, Iqbal Abdullah, Akshay Girap, Shardul Thakur, Wilkin Mota, Badre Alam, Kshemal Waingankar; Coach: Pravin Amre

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