Sarfaraz Khan is an Indian cricketer. He was born on 22nd October 1997 in the suburbs of Mumbai. He was also brought up in Azad Maidan. Sarfaraz is a right-hand middle-order batsman. His father Naushad Khan is also a cricket coach. The students like Iqbal Abdulla and Kamran were coached by Naushad at their early age.

Sarfaraz’s cricket training began when he was nearly 10 years. His father noticed Sarfaraz was hitting the balls with perfect timing and started giving him training. During monsoon conditions, it became tough for Sarfaraz to attend training at the grounds as those were quite far from his home in the suburbs. So, Sarfaraz’s father-cum-coach laid a synthetic pitch beside their home and Sarfaraz used to train for hours on that track. His father revealed later that practicing on the bouncy synthetic rack had helped Sarfaraz later to execute the pool-shots or the hook-shots with perfect timing even against a sharp bouncer. Sarfaraz could not attend school for around four years due to his cricket practice so his father appointed private English and Mathematics tutors for him.

Sarfaraz shot into the limelight for the first time, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s 45-year old record by scoring 431 runs off 429 deliveries for Rizvi Springfield School in a Harris Shield match. In was his maiden performance in the Harris Shield in 2009 and he was only 12 years old at that time. As its reflection, Sarfaraz soon got a chance to represent under-19 Mumbai and then graduated to the under-19 India squad. One of his memorable innings for under-19 India was match-winning 66 off 101 deliveries against South Africa which impressed the head coach of the Indian under-19 team, Bharat Arun. Sarfaraz had participated in two under-19 World Cups in 2014 and 2016. In 2014 the 23-year old batsman had gleaned 211 runs in six matches at an average of 70.33 including two fifties. India finished at the 5th position in the competition. But after two years, in the 2016 under-19 World Cup where India finished as runners-up, Sarfaraz established himself as one of the stars of the competition, being the second-highest run-scorer with 355 runs in six matches at an average of 71 including five half-centuries. Sarfaraz made his debut in first-class cricket for Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy match against Bengal in 2014 at Kolkata but got out for only one run. However, Sarfaraz started playing for Uttar Pradesh from the next season in 2015. He has played in 17 first-class matches and gathered 1463 runs at an average of 66.50 with the highest score to his name of unbeaten 301, scored in a Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh in 2019. Sarfaraz who made his debut in List ‘A’ game in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Sourashtra at Rajkot, has played in 17 List ‘A’ matches and scored 302 runs at a strike rate of 92.92 including his highest score of 100.

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Following an eye-catching performance in the 2014 under-19 World Cup, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought Sarfaraz. He became the youngest cricketer to have made his debut in IPL in 2015. He scored 111 runs in his opening season playing in 13 matches. His potential steered him towards prosperity as Sarfaraz was picked up by KKR for Rs 25 lakhs and he has been retained by KKR for the upcoming IPL this season. Sarfaraz has played in 38 matches and scored 441 runs at a strike rate of 140 including his highest score of 67.

Sarfaraz made his debut in Twenty20 domestic in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Sourashtra in 2014. He remained 36 unbeaten off 20 deliveries. He has so far 66 T20 matches and scored 781 runs at a strike rate of 135.35.

The synthetic bouncy track laid by father helped Sarfaraz to hit bouncers.