As Royal Challengers Bangalore’s representative announced his team’s list of retainers at the IPL Player Retention here on Thursday, one name came as a surprise.
Many expected Chris Gayle’s name but the third was of 20-year-old Sarfaraz Khan.
“I knew (about it) a few days back as I had received call from RCB. They asked me if I was ready to be retained,” Sarfaraz told DNA.
Asked if he quoted any price when he was given the offer, Sarfaraz said: “Not money but playing under Virat (Kohli) bhai was more tempting and an offer I could not resist. The money part was taken care of by my abbu (father, who is also his coach — Naushad Khan). I just wanted to play under Virat bhai, that’s it.”
When referred to as crorepati, Khan, who was retained for Rs 1.75 crore by RCB, just laughed it off. “All know where we have come from. We were very poor,” he said.
Khan had to miss the 10th edition of IPL and had to stay away from cricket for eight months due to injury.
“Those were tough days. I had to stay away from cricket. However, my father kept backing me. He has always been ahead of times. When the doctors allowed me to start my fitness regimen, my father asked me to take knocking sessions. Once they said you can do knockings, abbu forced me to play matches,” he said.
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