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Sarfaraz Khan's legendary status as a domestic batting powerhouse continues to soar. His recent double century for Mumbai in the Irani Cup not only put the Rest of India under immense pressure but also raised questions about KL Rahul's position in the Indian Test team for the upcoming tour of Australia.
With his exceptional innings, Sarfaraz became the first cricketer to score a double century for Mumbai in the Irani Cup, solidifying his reputation as a formidable batsman.
Wasim Jaffer (Vidarbha), Ravi Shastri, Praveen Amre and Yashasvi Jaiswal (all for Rest of India) are double centurions in the Irani Cup.
It has been a tough week for Sarfaraz as his younger brother Musheer, who was also supposed to play the game, was ruled out of competitive cricket for 16 weeks after a road accident.
If his brother and father Naushad's car accident had perturbed him, it didn't seem so in his batting as he went hammer and tongs at the Rest of India bowling attack.
He played 160 dot balls but still maintained a 80 percent strike-rate, largely due to his 25 boundaries and four sixes.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane (97 off 234 balls) missed out on a 40th first-class hundred but the second day belonged to Sarfaraz, who was in a mood to punish pacers and spinners alike.
His 15th first-class century will certainly dispel all doubts about his slot as reserve middle-order batter for the remainder of the Test season (8 games).
Rahul, who got back his middle-order slot from Sarfaraz, did well in Kanpur but the team management and even the Karnataka batter knows that the stockily built Mumbaikar is breathing down his neck.
The Ekana Stadium track had underlying moisture on the second day and the dampness contributed to ball seaming around initially and the extra bounce made it challenging for batters.
His driving on the off-side was regal while there is nothing more to add to his footwork against spinners. He was brutal, especially against left-arm spinner Manav Suthar (0/137 in 37 overs), who looked clueless.
After a certain point, he employed the negative leg-stump line and Sarfaraz would either slightly go inside out or bent down on one knee to slog sweep it for maximums.
Along with Tanush Kotian (64), he added 183 for the seventh wicket, which demoralised the Rest of India bowling unit to a large extent.
Once he completed his double hundred, he let out a roar and kissed the Lion's crest on his shirt before hitting his best shot of the day. A hooked six over deep fine leg off Prasidh Krishna and a ramp shot earlier in the day using the extra pace and bounce were fitting answers to his critics who have raised doubts about his game on these kind of tracks.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 1st Innings 536/9 decl (Sarfaraz Khan 221 batting, Ajinkya Rahane 97, Mukesh Kumar 4/109, Yash Dayal 2/89, Prasidh Krishna 2/102) vs Rest of India.