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NEW DELHI: Not considered in the playing XI for the Bangladesh Test series, rising star Sarfaraz Khan on Wednesday slammed a double ton for Mumbai in the Irani Cup clash against Rest of India at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
Hitting his first double century of 2024, Sarfaraz raised his ton off 253 balls, propelling Mumbai past the 500-run mark on the second day of the contest.
With the sensational effort, Sarfaraz became the first Mumbai batter to score a double century in the Irani Cup.
The 26-year-old surpassed the previous best score of 195 by Ramnath Parkar in Pune in October 1972.
After being dropped on 95 earlier in the day, Sarfaraz notched up his 15th First Class ton and they beefed up his score, notching up a terrific double century in the 127th over of the innings.
Soon after reaching his 200 with a single off Prasidh Krishna, a pumped-up Sarfaraz took his helmet off and charged towards the dressing room in celebrations as his teammates and spectators gave him a standing ovation.
With the sensational double century, Sarfaraz also rose second on the list of batters with highest averages in first-class cricket.
Sarfaraz (69.6) overtook Ajay Sharma, who had a terrific average of 68.7 in his first-class career. The youngster is now only behind legendary Vijay Merchant, who boasted a jaw-dropping average of 81.8 in first-class cricket.
The domestic run machine Sarfaraz made his Test debut, earlier this year against England. However, despite being part of the squad for the Bangladesh Tests, the youngster was not picked in the playing XI as KL Rahul was the preferred choice of coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Rohit Sharma.
With yet another masterful effort, Sarfaraz now has made his case even stronger for a place in the India XI for the upcoming New Zealand Test series.
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