Sarfaraz Khan, who enjoyed a dream debut for India in the 3rd against England at Rajkot, was one of the 11 players released by Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2024 auction.
Sarfaraz, who spent four years at Royal Challengers Bangalore under Virat Kohli, before moving to Punjab Kings for three years and then eventually to the Capitals. But somehow, despite setting the India domestic cricket circuit on fire with truckloads of runs, Sarfaraz hasn’t been able to replicate the same success in the IPL.
2019 was Sarfaraz’s best IPL season where he scored 180 runs from 8 matches. And in all fairness, it’s not entirely his fault because he has hardly played games.
When he joined DC in IPL 2022, in two seasons he has represented the franchise in 10 games scoring 144 runs. Why is that? According to DC’s director of cricket Sourav Ganguly, Sarfaraz is primarily a traditional red-ball player whose hasn’t quite found his feet in T20 cricket yet. This was a significant factor contributing to his release.
“I think he is more of a five-day player. His game is suited for that. T20 is a different format and the amount of runs he has scored in domestic cricket – in Ranji Trophy and other First-class games is phenomenal. And as they say, if you score runs, it doesn’t go waste,” Ganguly told RevSportz.
Sarfaraz on CSK, KKR’s radar
When the IPL 2024 auction took place in December, Sarfaraz – base price of ₹20 lakh -surprisingly went unsold. But if reports are to be believed, his fortunes have changed since smashing those twin fifties against England. In the first innings, Sarfaraz produced a blitzkrieg, smashing a 48-ball half-century and partnering Ravindra Jadeja in a 77-run stand before he was unfortunately run out for 62.