Sarfaraz Khan only behind Don Bradman in highest first-class average
A statistical look at the all the records the Mumbai batter has scaled in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season
Sampath Bandarupalli
23-Jun-2022
2 - Number of players to score 900-plus runs in two different editions of Ranji Trophy, before Sarfaraz Khan. He is the first player to achieve this feat in successive tournaments. Sarfaraz scored 928 runs in the 2019-20 edition of Ranji Trophy and has recorded 937 runs so far in the ongoing edition. Ajay Sharma and Wasim Jaffer are the other players to have breached the 900-run mark in a Ranji Trophy season on two occasions.
82.83 - Sarfaraz's batting average in first-class cricket. It is the second-highest for any batter with 2000-plus runs in the format. The only batter with a better average is Donald Bradman, who has 28067 runs to his name at an average of 95.14.
82.76 - Sarfaraz's batting average in Ranji Trophy across 23 matches - the third-highest for any player who has scored 2000-plus runs. Only Vijay Merchant (98.35) and Sachin Tendulkar (87.37) average more than Sarfaraz across the 87 editions of the competition.
133.85 - Sarfaraz's average so far in the 2021-22 edition of Ranji Trophy. It is the fourth-highest for any batter in a Ranji Trophy season, where they have recorded 900-plus runs. His own average of 154.66 during the 2019-20 season is second on this list, while Rusi Modi's 201.6 in the 1944-45 season is the highest.
134 - His first-innings score in the final against Madhya Pradesh. This is the first time Sarfaraz failed to convert his hundred into a 150-plus score in first-class cricket. He has six scores of 150-plus since the start of 2020 in the format, joint-most alongside Joe Root.
173 - Sarfaraz's batting average against spinners in this Ranji Trophy season. He has scored 519 runs against spin while striking at 80.72 and has been dismissed three times. Against left-arm spinners alone, he has scored 365 runs at a strike rate of 91.02, while being dismissed just once.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo