NEW DELHI: As Sarfaraz Khan endured a third duck in his nascent international career against New Zealand on the second day of the Mumbai Test on Saturday, his father Naushad and brother Musheer were left in utter disbelief.
Batting for the first time at his home ground, there were high expectations from Sarfaraz as he came out to the middle in the second session after the fall of Ravindra Jadeja.
However, the excitement of the Indian fans quickly turned into shock and disappointment as Sarfaraz walked back after facing just four balls and without troubling the scorers.
The Sarfaraz dismissal took place on the final ball of the 48th over when left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel from around the wicket got the ball to turn away after it came in with the angle.
Although there was not too much of a turn on the ball, Sarfaraz was undone by the extra bounce from the surface. As the ball kissed his glove, Tom Blundell took a sharp catch behind the stumps to send the 27-year-old packing.
As Sarfaraz made the long walk back to the pavilion, his father and brother, sitting in the stands, were left shell shocked with the dismissal.
This was Sarfaraz’s second dismissal for a duck in the series against New Zealand. Earlier, in the Bengaluru Test, Sarfaraz was dismissed for nought in the first innings but he then responded with a fiery 150-run knock in his second essay.
In Mumbai, with India applying the left-right combination to counter New Zealand spinners, in-form Sarfaraz was pushed to the No. 8 slot in the first innings which drew criticism from former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar.
In the 10 innings so far in his Test career, Sarfaraz now has three ducks to his name along with three fifties and a ton.
