RCB paid for Sarfaraz Khan's leg operation

With a new decade of Indian Premier League (IPL) set to kick off in 2018, the upcoming edition promises to be bigger than ever. The retention list of each franchise for IPL 2018 was announced yesterday by the BCCI. While some cricketers were certain of being retained, there were two unexpected retentions made by the franchises. Kings XI Punjab backing Axar Patel and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s decision to hold onto Sarfaraz Khan.

The likes of Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, AB de Villiers etc. were retained by their respective franchise. However, speaking about Sarfaraz, the 20-year-old had been marred by injuries in the recent past.

Thus retaining him over someone like Yuzvendra Chahal, who ended 2017 as the leading wicket-taker in T20Is seems beyond logic. The franchise also paid INR 5 lakhs to provide financial aid for his leg operation.

Axar’s retention, on the other hand, makes sense for Punjab as he is the only player from the Indian team who was in the squad that played last year.

Sarfaraz Khan speaks on his retention

Speaking to Sportskeeda, an upbeat Sarfaraz was quoted saying, “First of all, I would like to thank the RCB management and Virat bhai for putting their trust in me and I would love to repay their faith.”

He added, “I was thrilled when Avinash Vaidya sir called me. I was surprised that RCB were willing to retain me. Thanks to them, who, from my leg operation to the rehabilitation, took it all upon themselves financially. They paid 5 lakhs for my operation and made me recover from the injury (sic).”

The young dynamic batsman starred for the Virat Kohli-led franchise in 2015. He scored 111 runs at an extraordinary strike rate of 156.33 and put up an all round display with the willow.

However, in the next season, he was forced to the sidelines on fitness grounds just after five appearances. No sooner did he get fit, he suffered a knee injury that kept him out of action for almost the entire year.