Way to go, Sarfaraz!

Mumbai cricket is replete with stories of commitment Sunil Gavaskar was known to arrive for club games despite landing in India in the wee hours of the morning Dilip Vengsarkar played whenever he could for Dadar Union and there was a case of longretired Polly Umrigar playing the Times Shield for his employers ACC which also had Gavaskar a few days after returning from their 197778 tour of Australia where Umrigar was the Indian teamrsquos managerOn Sunday Sarfaraz Khan 25 added a refreshing chapter in Mumbairsquos club cricket history by turning up for Parkophene Cricketers in the Purshottam Shield at Sunder CC Cross Maidan after playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy SMAT final for Mumbai against Himachal Pradesh in KolkataInterestingly Mushtaq Ali represented Sunder CC on their East Africa tour of 1957 the firstever Indian club tour to that region On Saturday Sarfaraz cracked an unbeaten 36 to pull Mumbai out of woods and help them lay their hands on the SMAT for the first time at the Eden Gardens Sarfarazrsquos 94ball 157 26x4 4x6 and Ninad Kadamrsquos unbeaten 105 helped Parkophene Cricketers post a mammoth 4223 in 45 overs Khar Gymkhana were bowled out for 123 in 234 oversSarfaraz who had only two hours of sleep on Saturday night woke up at 3 am on Sunday He reached Kolkata airport by 4 am to catch the 610 am flight An hour of sleep on the flight was followed by a 9 am landing in Mumbai where his dad and coach Naushad Khan received himAlso readAjinkya Rahane amp Co eye maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali title against HP todaySarfaraz went directly to Cross Maidan and made it just before the toss ldquoMost of the time we get good wickets in the Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments so I wanted to have good match practice on a difficult wicket We have a few days before the Vijay Hazare Trophy so I thought itrsquos a good opportunity to utilise Tomorrow Monday I will be doing match simulation at Islam Gymkhanardquo Sarfaraz told middayBusy scheduleThe Mumbai team will head to Ranchi in a couple of days to start their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign against Bengal on Saturday Sarfaraz didnrsquot want to rest ldquoIf I take a few daysrsquo rest before the next match it breaks my momentum Hence I try to bridge the gap and stay in the game on most days A good MCA Mumbai Cricket Association match helpsmdashtwo professional umpires 11 fielders and a decent bowling attack They Khar Gymkhana had good bowlers like spinners Dhrumil Matkar 249 and Parag Khanapurkar 061 The wicket was also challenging as it had turn and uneven bounce which I managed to counterrdquo remarked Sarfaraz who also took two catches at first slipWhen asked about the close final against HP on Saturday Sarfaraz said ldquoI was just thinking about playing till the last over and tried to win In a lowscoring game a batsman is always in two mindsmdashwhether to go for big hits or stay on the wicket Himachalrsquos bowling attack was very good Most of their players had IPL experience and Rishi Dhawan has played for India They were defending champions in the Vijay Hazare Trophy so they are a good side Mumbai had never won a T20 tournament and we were excited to perform well Irsquom delighted to have played a role in Mumbairsquos win in the finalrdquoThe national selection committee has been criticised for not including Sarfaraz for Indiarsquos tours of New Zealand and Bangladesh Chetan Sharma amp Co may have their reasons but a lack of commitment can be safely ruled outAdhatrao smashes 193Meanwhile in another highscoring Purshottam Shield game at Dadkar Maidan Matunga New Hind Sporting Clubrsquos Siddhant Adhatrao smashed 193 24x4 6x6 to beat PJ Hindu Gymkhana by 263 runs In reply to New Hind SCrsquos 3826 PJ Hindu were bowled out for 119 Spinners Akshay Jambhekar and Parikshit Valsankar claimed four and three wickets respectively