Vijay Hazare Trophy: Sarfaraz Khan takes Mumbai to knockouts before flying off | Cricket News – Times of India

Before flying off to Bangladesh with the India A team, Sarfaraz Khan had a tick mark left in his things-to-do list. He had to ensure that Mumbai made it into the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Considering the kind of supreme form he’s been enjoying for the past two years, that task wasn’t difficult for the domestic run-machine.
With Mumbai facing a stiff ask of chasing down 338 against Railways in a do-or-die game at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi on Wednesday, the 25-year-old rose the occasion in typical style, cracking a magnificent century (117, 94b, 10×4, 5×6) to fashion Mumbai’s six-wicket win by the penultimate over in a high-scoring game.
Interestingly, for all his exploits in red-ball cricket so far, this is Sarfaraz’s just second hundred in 26 List A games. Earlier this month, he had chipped in with an unbeaten 36-run cameo off 31 balls to help Mumbai beat Himachal Pradesh in the final and clinch their maiden Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy.
Having bounced back from back-to-back defeats against Services and Maharashtra with three wins on the trot in Elite Group E, Mumbai will travel directly from Ranchi to Ahmedabad for the KOs, which kick off just three days from now with the prequarterfinal on November 26.
Like Mumbai, Sarfaraz – who took just 82 balls to gallop to his century- too went through his own share of struggles in the tournament. Still coping with being ignored for India’s upcoming tour of Bangladesh despite scoring heavily in domestic cricket, he was hospitalized for a couple of days in Ranchi due to stones in his kidney.
“It was an important knock for the team, because we had to qualify for the KOs. I love such situations, when I know that the team wants me to fire. I just played my natural game. I wanted to win this game for my team before leaving for Bangladesh. The Mumbai team has given me so much. I felt that I need to give it back this much at least,” Sarfaraz told TOI from Ranchi, while packing his bags for the tour, for which he will fly away on Thursday.
As usual, Sarfaraz’s father Naushad provided the youngster with ideal support off the field. “As always, I must especially thank by abbu. He came here to Ranchi yesterday to give me my passport. Since I hadn’t batted in a few games recently, he helped me get some useful batting practice yesterday on our off day, at the ground. I bore the fruits of that today,” he beamed.
Mumbai lost in-form opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (4), who too is departing for the India A tour, early in the piece, before Prithvi Shaw (51, 47b, 8×4) and Armaan Jaffer (30, 27b, 3×4, 1×6) got the chase going with their 58-run in 49 balls for the second wicket. At 107 for 3 in the 16th over, they looked in trouble, before Sarfaraz added 152 in 126 balls for the fourth wicket with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (88, 82b, 9×4, 3×6), and then 68 in 55 balls for the fifth wicket with allrounder Shams Mulani (46 not out, 31b, 5×4, 1×6).
Electing to bat first, Railways put up 337 for five, with Pratham Singh (109, 108b, 8×4, 6×6) and Mohammed Saif (92, 77b, 7×4, 4×6), who added 140 in just 111 balls for the third wicket, being the main run-getters.
Brief Scores: Railways 337-5 in 50 overs (Pratham Singh 109, Mohammed Saif 92, Vivek Singh 47, Karn Sharma 31 not out) lost to Mumbai 338-5 in 48.3 overs (Sarfaraz Khan 117, Ajinkya Rahane 88, Prithvi Shaw 51, Shams Mulani 46 not out, Armaan Jaffer 30; Susheel 3-53) by six wickets.
J&K qualify for knockouts for first time
Meanwhile, Jammu & Kashmir qualified for the Vijay Hazare knockouts for the first time in their history when they beat Uttarakhand by 9 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. Putting in an inspired show, J&K won 5 out of their 6 games in Elite Group D.
“Our boys are very talented. You just see what these players will do in the future. Our [J&K] association fulfilled all our needs by giving us camps and matches. We got India coach [former India cricketer Ajay Sharma]. So, all these things helped us to perform well. We just want to continue with the same momentum. We are going [to Ahmedabad] to win the final. We played fearless cricket,” J&K captain Shubham Pundir said.
Divyaansh stars in Mumbai U-25 win
Talented opener Divyaansh Saxena slammed his second consecutive century (148, 131b, 20×4, 2×6), while Sarfaraz Khan’s younger brother Musheer Khan hit 82 (85b, 5×4) to help Mumbai score a thumping eight-wicket win over Rajasthan in their Men’s Under-25 State A Trophy (One-dayers) match at Rajkot on Sunday.
Divyaansh had scored 116 in Mumbai’s 208-run win over Orissa in the first match. Mumbai have now won all their 3 games in the tournament.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan 266 in 50 overs (Z Khan 110, Lakhan Mankas 106; Saksham 4-36, H Tanna 3-60) lost to Mumbai 267-2 in 43.3 overs (Divyaansh 148, Musheer Khan 82) by 8 wickets.

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