Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal and the legendary Don Bradman rank among the top 5 batters with highest First-Class averages. (File/PTI/BCCI)
Mumbai and India batter Sarfaraz Khan has been consistently piling up runs on the domestic circuit for several seasons now.
A truckload of runs for Mumbai, India A, the Rest of India side in the Irani Cup and Duleep Trophy sides eventually translated in a maiden Test call-up for Sarfaraz earlier this year. On his Test debut against England in Rajkot, Sarfaraz smashed twin half-centuries and followed up with another fifty in the Dharamsala Test as India won the series 3-1.
After missing out on a spot in the recently concluded Test series against Bangladesh, Sarfaraz made a statement with a double hundred for Mumbai in the Irani Cup tie against ROI in Lucknow on Wednesday. Sarfaraz became the first Mumbai batter to record an Irani Cup double hundred.
The 27-year-old has racked up 15 First-Class hundreds and 14 fifties in 75 innings since debut in 2014. Known to big ‘daddy’ hundreds, Sarfaraz has converted 10 of these 15 tons into 150-plus scores, four of them being double hundreds. Sarfaraz notched his highest score, a whopping 301 not out for Mumbai in a 2019-20 Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh, his former side.
Sarfaraz’s current First Class average ranks among the elite cricketers on the all-time list, enjoying the company of stalwarts Don Bradman and Vijay Merchant.
The Mumbaikar remained unbeaten on 222 in the first innings of the Irani Cup, raising his First Class average to 69.20 – the fourth-best of all-time among all batters who have recorded at least 2000 runs. While Bradman dominates the charts, Sarfaraz finds himself second among active cricketers, behind his Mumbai teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal who currently averages over 70 after 48 FC innings.
Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis is third among active players, averaging over 65 in 51 matches.
| Highest First Class averages (min. 2000 runs) | ||||||||
| Player | M | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Avge | 100 | 50 |
| Don Bradman | 234 | 338 | 43 | 28067 | 452* | 95.14 | 117 | 69 |
| Vijay Merchant | 150 | 234 | 46 | 13470 | 359* | 71.64 | 45 | 52 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 27 | 48 | 4 | 3101 | 265 | 70.47 | 12 | 9 |
| Sarfaraz Khan | 51 | 75 | 12 | 4405 | 301* | 69.2 | 15 | 14 |
| George Headley | 103 | 164 | 22 | 9921 | 344* | 69.86 | 33 | 44 |
| Ajay Sharma | 129 | 166 | 16 | 10120 | 259* | 67.46 | 38 | 36 |
| Kamindu Menids | 51 | 79 | 7 | 4740 | 200* | 65.83 | 18 | 23 |
| Will Ponsford | 162 | 235 | 23 | 13819 | 437 | 65.18 | 47 | 43 |
| Bill Woodfull | 174 | 245 | 39 | 13388 | 284 | 64.99 | 49 | 58 |
| Shantanu Sugwekar | 85 | 122 | 18 | 6563 | 299* | 63.1 | 19 | 26 |
