Sarfaraz Khan asserts his position as a first XI contender with majestic 150

Sarfaraz Khan tore his helmet away and roared like a gladiator as his backfoot punch off Tim Southee touched the ropes The unbridled celebration was after his emotionallylayered maiden Test hundred but it was also a statementSarfaraz was loudly telling the world that he is no longer a replacement but a firm contender for a slot in the first eleven even when Shubman Gills stiff neck is healedIt would have been the moment Sarfaraz and his cricket tragic father Naushad was hoping to see when they started the journey in the modest maidans of MumbaiSarfaraz has not forgotten those days either ndash a stingy childhood and travelling to nets at Shivaji Park in a crammed Mumbai localldquoI talk to my father quite often since he keeps me motivated all the time I felt good since it was my maiden century playing for India It has been a dream for me since childhood Extremely happyrdquo Sarfaraz almost choked on words during the postday press meetTouching his dream point was not easy eitherThe 26yearold had to survive bodyshaming for his rotund figure and social mediarsquos holierthanthou judgment of his fingerpointing celebration one timePerhaps it made him walk through his catharsis and taught him to value life and cricket betterldquoI always keep this in mind that tomorrow is uncertain Its happened in the past that while thinking about tomorrow my present was hampered So I try to stay in the presentrdquo he opened up his philosophical sideBut it cleverly masked his cricketing smarts acquired from the highly practical world of Mumbai cricketAlso ReadRishabh Pant eclipses MS Dhoni in a milestone during breezy knock against KiwisIt reflected in the way he handled strapping New Zealand pacer William OrsquoRourke during the IND vs NZ 1st TestOrsquoRourke hit the hard lengths and tried to bounce out Sarfaraz as he did against Virat KohliBut the Mumbai man used late or upper cuts to nullify those grunt balls from the KiwiHe plays those shots in a peculiar manner ndash a static foot giving him balance while quick hands send the ball into the wide arc between point and deep third manIt has no mention in a coaching manual but is effective as evidenced by his success on this dayOut of the 150 in the IND vs NZ 1st Test he scored 83 runs on the offside and in that 58 flowed through the aforementioned regionldquoI like playing the balls that rise high I have a bouncy wicket back at home Mumbai and I play regularly there and the bounce easily allows me to cut itldquoThey Kiwis were trying to ball short at me outside the off and I simply played accordingly It was funrdquo Sarfaraz explainedBut for OrsquoRourke it was not fun as Sarfaraz carted him for 39 runs off 35 balls with six foursThe Kiwi admitted it candidlyldquoHe played me really well With that angle of me sort of falling away it opens up that little dab shot We thought maybe we could have been in the game a little bit but he played it so wellldquoObviously one of his strengths is that late cut So I would have liked to be a little bit tighter but I was missing a little bit wide of offstump and he put me away So credit to himrdquo said OrsquoRourkeAlso ReadMhatre tons it onSarfaraz displayed his maturity while shielding Rishabh Pant with whom he added 177 runs for fourth wicket during the early part of their associationPant was reeling a bit from that blow to his knee and was struggling to find his range initiallyHence Sarfaraz fronted up more to New Zealand pacers in the first hour and waited till the visitors introduced spinners to give more strike to his partnerldquoI was trying to give Pant the strike while the leftarm spinners were bowling I knew he would be hitting them out We were trying to create pressure from both ends for the bowlers as I was also countering the pace attack wellrdquo he chuckledBut New Zealand are just 107 runs away from a Test victory in India after 36 years after taking seven wickets for 54 runs to bundle out India for 462Sarfaraz has not given up hopeldquoIt is not an easy wicket to bat on I dont think the game is out of our hands yet The ball is still cutting in and outldquoSo if we manage to get two to three wickets of theirs NZs early on even they could be in a similar situation collapserdquo he chimed inAfter all who knows better than Sarfaraz the value of not losing hopeWith agency inputs