IND vs ENG: Sarfaraz shares pic of Rohit patting his back as he walks out for his debut innings

India skipper Rohit Sharma tried to pull Mark Wood’s bouncer but couldn’t anticipate the pace as he failed to time it. While walking back to the pavilion, the 36-year-old put an arm around Sarfaraz Khan, who made his debut on Thursday, February 15. The 26-year-old shared the photo on his Instagram handle as it instantly went viral on social media.

After doing the hard yards in domestic cricket for a few years now, Sarfaraz Khan finally cracked into the national team during the third Test against England in Rajkot. With three wickets falling in quick succession, the 26-year-old was expected to come out to bat much earlier. However, the team management sent the experienced Ravindra Jadeja ahead of him to maintain the right-hand-left-hand combination as Sarfaraz remained padded up for more than three hours.

In the 64th over of the match, India skipper tried to pull Mark Wood for a boundary but the opener couldn’t anticipate the pace of the ball as Ben Stokes picked up a simple catch. The fans in the stadium were on their feet as Rohit walked back after scoring 131 runs, while, on the other hand, Sarfaraz Khan was ready to make his way into the middle. As he entered the ground, the returning Rohit Sharma patted the back of his fellow Mumbai teammate, which can be seen as the passing of the torch.

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was spotted passing a message to Virat Kohli while the latter was coming out to bat in the 2011 ODI World Cup final in Mumbai. The image is now considered iconic and the same can be said about Sarfaraz’s little moment with Rohit if he makes a name for himself in international cricket.

The Mumbai-born cricketer got the perfect start though. India were looking for Rishabh Pant’s replacement for a long time now in Test cricket and thus, tried the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in the middle. However, Sarfaraz Khan seems to be the solution as he played an aggressive brand of cricket, which brought some momentum back in India’s favour.

He got out following a miscommunication with Ravindra Jadeja in the middle. Walking back after scoring 62 runs off 64 deliveries, Sarfaraz looked dejected but his mood changed after a video call from his brother, Musheer Khan, who recently played for India in the U19 World Cup in South Africa.