24-year-old Sarfaraz first burst onto the scene as an aggressive dasher in the 2015 IPL, where his 21-ball 45* against Rajasthan Royals while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore attracted plenty of eyeballs. His temperament at the death and his ability to back his strokes in crunch moments earmarked him as a star for the future, but fitness issues stalled his progress. Though Sarfaraz was retained by the franchise in 2018, he was to play only seven games that year, before he was released by the team.

Since then, the youngster has only played 15 more matches in three seasons of IPL cricket, managing 213 runs with a high score of 67. The clean-hitter who was once touted as the next big thing in Indian white-ball cricket was on the verge of quietly disappearing from view.

Sarfaraz made his first-class debut for Mumbai against Bengal in 2014 and only played three more games for his side that year. Batting in the middle order, the right-hander did not have the best of starts, scoring 1, 21, 52*, 21 and 0 in five innings, before he moved to Uttar Pradesh to increase his opportunities. With the Mumbai team packed with big names, including the likes Wasim Jaffer, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare and Abhishek Nayar to name a few, his path to regular first-team opportunities was blocked.

That was not to be, though, as he played a total of eight matches for the Uttar Pradesh in two seasons, following which Sarfaraz took the decision to switch back to Mumbai. And since his return, he has been a run-scoring machine.

Sarfaraz has batted in 22 first-class matches thus far, making 2,099 runs at an average of over 77.74. However, his career can be divided into two halves: before his departure to Uttar Pradesh and after his return to Mumbai. In his first 11 first-class games, Sarfaraz made 535 runs at an average of 35.1 with a high score of 155, and since his return to Mumbai, he has made 1,566 runs at an average of 130.5 with the help of two hundreds, two double hundreds and one triple ton.

In the 2019/20 season, Sarfaraz registered scores of 2, 8, 71*, 36, 301*, 226*, 78, 25 and 177, making 928 runs at an average of 154.66. Overall, Sarfaraz was the highest-run scorer among players not belonging to Plate teams, with no batter matching his average. He also made his runs at a strike rate of 78.94, to display that he does not only rely on occupying the crease but can also score big runs in quick time. Only three players made a triple ton in the season, and no player made both a triple and a double century in the competition.

The two-year gap between the last two Ranji seasons due to the pandemic has seemingly not affected Sarfaraz, who started off this year’s tournament right from where he had left off in 2020. He has batted in four innings this season, scoring 275, 63, 48 and 165, giving him a total of 551 runs at an average of 137.75. No other player from Mumbai has made more than 186 runs in the competition thus far, and his overall tally has been bettered only by Bihar’s Sakibul Gani, who made a fine 341 in his debut Ranji innings. Once again, Sarfaraz’s strike rate of 72.12 stands out.

His showings in the 2019/20 Ranji season also helped him make the squad in the India A team for the series in South Africa last year, and he displayed his mettle with a fighting 71* in 94 balls to top score for the side in the first of two first-class games against their South African counterparts.

From a player who initially dominated white-ball cricket, Sarfaraz has risen the ranks and is a serious contender to make India’s Test XI. Not allowing setbacks, fitness issues or postponements to affect his will, he has worked hard on his game, and it should not be a surprise if he gets his India call-up in the near future.