In cricket, as in life, fortunes can change in a short time. Over the years, Sarfaraz Khan has subtly expressed his frustration at being sidelined from the Indian Test team despite consistent performances in the Ranji Trophy.On Friday, the Mumbai batter posted a photo on Instagram from the 2019 Telugu film ‘Jersey’ with a caption that read: “I may not fit in, but I’ll fight with everything I’ve got.”Just 48 hours later, the 28-yearold was rewarded for his seemingly endless ‘fight’ when he replaced the injured Sai Sudharsan in the Indian squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka. After finally receiving the news he had been waiting for, Sarfaraz shared his first post on social media, posting a couple of pictures in the Team India travelling jersey. On Monday, Sarfaraz was the cynosure of all eyes as he practiced with the Indian team in Colombo.On eve of Sarfaraz’s departure, Sarfaraz’s father-cum-coach Naushad Khan, who has a penchant for shayari when he’s not coaching his kids, posted a reel where he tells his cricketer sons Sarfaraz and Musheer Khan that luck favours hardwork.The Test recall, which has come after 19 months in the wilderness for Sarfaraz, marks a heartening comeback of a man who was last year ignored by the national selectors even for the India A home series against South Africa A ahead of the Proteas’ tour of India, based on the logic that they had “seen enough” of him and wanted to try the others too. With the three-day warm-up game in Colombo having concluded on Sunday, Sarfaraz will look to make the most of the practice sessions to prepare for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
Shedding weight
One of the criticisms against Sarfaraz was that he was overweight. Many deemed him unfit to play toplevel cricket, even though legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar countered that by saying that a player’s performance and cricket fitness are more important than their body weight. In a heartening development that has certainly helped him in his cricket career, Sarfaraz, before being picked for the India A squad for the upcoming tour of England last year, eventually decided to improve on this aspect too.
Sarfaraz Khan
After remaining unsold in the IPL for two years before the Chennai Super Kings bought him in IPL-2026 auction, he worked hard on improving his fitness in recent times, and shedding excess weight. The Mumbaikar has lost a staggering 17 kgs in a year’s time and now bears a much trimmer, fitter look. In fact, since 2025, Sarfaraz’s whole family has been on a weightlosing spree which has produced significant results. Advised to lose weight on an urgent basis to avoid a knee replacement surgery, Naushad Khan lost 12 kgs in a month last year.“Our whole family is focused on a weight-losing mission. Sarfaraz has lost nine kilograms too in six weeks, which isn’t easy, and he’s raring to lose more weight. Both Sarfaraz and I have been slogging in the gym for at least an hour for six days a week. I go for a walk, while he jogs for almost an hour, and then there’s a 30-minute swimming session. Even my younger son Moin (Khan) has lost a lot of weight,” Naushad had told TOI.Much of this weight loss mission for the Khans also involved a strict diet. “Sarfaraz and I have stopped eating atta (flour) and rice at home completely. Our diet is now strict but interesting — we eat sauteed vegetable with boiled chicken, boiled eggs, and drink green tea and black coffee. We are using little (olive) oil in our food,” Naushad had revealed.It meant that Sarfaaz was no longer feasting on his favourite non-vegetarian dishes — particularly biryani — but it’s a sacrifice that the middleorder batter consciously made to improve his fitness drastically.
