Sarfaraz Khan’s dominance in the first-class circuit is going from strength to strength and the right-handed batter proved his mettle once again with a century against the Rest of India (ROI) in the ongoing Irani Cup.
Playing for the defending Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai, Sarfaraz came to bat at number four and scored a scintillating century on day two of the Irani Cup at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday, October 2.
The century has helped the 26-year-old to also equal two of India’s greatest-ever batters – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
Notably, Sarfaraz has now scored two centuries in the Irani Cup and both Sachin and Rahul have also scored two centuries each in the prestigious tournament.
Sarfaraz stitched a 131-run stand for the fifth wicket alongside his captain Ajinkya Rahane and bailed his team out of crisis.
Rahane also played a captain’s knock and got out after scoring 97 off 234 deliveries with the help of seven fours and a maximum.
Sarfaraz is still unbeaten on 103 at Lunch on day two and has played a monumental role in guiding Mumbai past 300. The middle-order has already scored 14 fours and is looking hungry for more.
Most centuries in the Irani Cup (Irani Trophy)
| Player | Matches | Runs | Average | Hundreds | Fifties |
| Dilip Vengasarkar | 9 | 779 | 55.92 | 4 | 2 |
| Gundappa Viswanath | 9 | 1001 | 77.00 | 4 | 5 |
| Hanuma Vihari | 4 | 614 | 122.80 | 3 | 1 |
| Abhinav Mukund | 4 | 596 | 74.50 | 3 | 1 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 12 | 733 | 40.72 | 3 | 1 |
| Wasim Jaffer | 12 | 1294 | 64.70 | 3 | 8 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 1 | 357 | 178.50 | 2 | – |
| Polly Umrigar | 2 | 236 | 118.00 | 2 | – |
| Sarfaraz Khan | 3* | 271 | 90.33 | 2 | – |
| R Sudhakar Rao | 3 | 400 | 80.00 | 2 | 3 |
| Murali Vijay | 3 | 525 | 105.00 | 2 | 1 |
| Pravin Amre | 4 | 503 | 83.83 | 2 | 1 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 3 | 491 | 81.83 | 2 | 2 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 4 | 439 | 109.75 | 2 | 2 |
| GK Bose | 4 | 408 | 51.00 | 2 | 1 |
| Rahul Dravid | 4 | 571 | 81.57 | 2 | 2 |
