Milind Rege relishes Sarfaraz Khan's triple treat at Wankhede

Chairman of Mumbai selectors watches Sarfaraz Khan score his triple century against Uttar Pradesh from the MCA President Box on Wednesday. Pic /Suresh Karkera

A triple century is a rare feat, but for Milind Rege, the chairman of Mumbai selectors, watching a 300-plus individual score is nothing new.

Rege, who watched Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan do the incredible against Uttar Pradesh from his seat at the Mumbai Cricket Association's President Box of the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, has watched five of the eight Ranji triple tons scored by Mumbai batsmen.

His first triple century he watched was Ajit Wadekar's 323 for Bombay against Mysore in 1966-67. "Ajit's innings [at the Brabourne Stadium] was the best simply because the opposition had BS Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna. And Ajit has to clear seven men on the offside," said Rege, who recalled being the "13th man" in that Bombay side which beat Mysore by an innings and five runs to progress to the 1966-67 Ranji Trophy final.

The former Mumbai captain conceded that Sarfaraz slammed his triple century on a "feather bed" and against a weak bowling attack, but praised the youngster for the kind of grit he displayed in an "against all odds" situation what with Mumbai having to surpass Uttar Pradesh's massive first innings score of 625.

Rege hailed Sarfaraz for his "sheer guts, determination, patience and strokeplay" and underlined that he was playing only his third match of the season for Mumbai.

Rege, 70, has been watching monumental batting deeds in first-class cricket even before he was in contention for a place in the Bombay team way back in the late 1960s. Apart from watching triple tons from the blade of Wadekar and Sarfaraz, Rege witnessed similar feats by Gavaskar (in 1982), Sanjay Manjrekar (1991) and Rohit Sharma in 2009. Merchant's triple came in 1943 while Wasim Jaffer's triple tons were scored away from Mumbai.

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