Sarfaraz does a Tendulkar, wants to fulfill father's dream

Two decades ago Sachin Tendulkar used the Mumbai schools tournament to announce he was good enough to play for India, and now 12-year-old Sarfaraz Khan has emulated his idol smashing a record 439 runs in the same event, and then said he wanted to fulfill his father's dream by playing for India.

Sarfaraz hit 12 sixes and 56 boundaries during his 421-ball innings for Springfield Rizvi School in a three-day match against Indian Education Society in the Harris Shield Inter-School tournament here Wednesday. Sarfaraz broke Sanjeev Jadhav's record of 422 run set in 1986 for Sharadashram Vidyamandir School.

An ecscatic Sarfaraz still can't believe that he had surpassed his idol Tendulkar, who had scored 346 runs during a 664-run partnership with Vinod Kambli (349) in 1988 for Sharadashram Vidyamandir School.

Sarfaraz, a sixth grade student, feels that the innings will help him to fulfill his father's dream.

"My father (Naushad Khan) wanted to play for India, but it remained a dream for him. I feel this innings will help me to do what he couldn't," said Sarfaraz with his father by his side.

The feeling of scoring 400 runs in a school cricket is yet to sink in, but the young guy shudders to play another massive inning for fear of encountering the media.

"I will never play another such innings in my life. Fighting it out on the field is much better than posing," quipped Sarfraz as he tried to wriggle out of a crowd of cameramen and reporters.

Sarfraz has never met his idol Tendulkar, but has seen the batting maestro offer some batting tips to former Bangladesh captain Mohammed Ashraful during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match last year.

He said Tendulkar's words of advice to Ashraful were ringing in his ears during his marathon innings.

"I heard Tendulkar telling Ashraful to never take his eyes off the ball. I just followed it and right from the first delivery I faced I followed it religiously," he said.

For Sarfraz's coach Raju Pathak he is a special talent.

"I make him face bowlers like Kamran Khan and Iqbal Abdullah in the nets and that has paid off for Sarfraz. He is a wonder kid and hope that he works hard and goes on to represent India one day," he said.

Last updated on Nov 5^th, 2009 at 18:01 pm IST--IANS