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Sarfaraz Khan 2.0. The red-ball genius has started to put things together in white-ball cricket. The development was expected to arrive long before, but it’s happened sooner rather than later. The timing of it was just perfect.
Sarfaraz Khan 2.0
Back in prime physique and having won the battle with injuries, Sarfaraz’s willow was anything but quiet in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The 28-year-old struck his maiden T20 hundred and 3 fifties in just 7 innings.
Sarfaraz Khan 157 off just 75 balls with 9 fours and 14 sixes at a strike rate of 209 at number 4. CSK bench strength for top 5 is insane. pic.twitter.com/M6wWreftUJ
— Heisenberg
(@internetumpire) December 31, 2025
This earned him a bid from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction. But Sarfaraz doesn’t want to be a bench-rider. CSK has adopted a new approach. This was initiated by trading Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
Then at the auction, CSK spent INR 28.40 crore for two uncapped players, Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma. The 5-time champions are going all-in on aggression. Sarfaraz has been late to the T20 party, but he’s finally adapted. In fact, he’s applying those methods in the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT).
Has CSK found their new spin hitter?
Such has been his performance that Ravichandran Ashwin thinks CSK should definitely use Sarfaraz in their starting team, playing XI/impact player. Ashwin’s comment came after Sarfaraz smashed the fastest List A hundred for Mumbai.
The former Indian spinners think CSK can use the 28-year-old in the middle overs as the spinner-hitter and make use of his ongoing purple patch.
“That form’s transitioned seamlessly into the Hazare with scores of 55(49) followed by a blistering 157(75) today with 14 sixes. It’s particularly impressive how he murders spin in the middle overs with his sweeps and slog sweeps. CSK should look at riding his purple patch by slotting him into the Playing XII surely? A genuine problem of plenty with the bat for the men in yellove this season! Can’t wait for IPL 2026,” Ashwin wrote on X.
100*(47), 52(40), 64(25), 73(22) in the SMAT.
That form’s transitioned seamlessly into the Hazare with scores of 55(49) followed by a blistering 157(75) today with 14 sixes. It's particularly impressive how he murders spin in the middle overs with his sweeps and slog sweeps.… pic.twitter.com/MfBWAD6QH8
(@ashwinravi99) December 31, 2025
CSK squad for IPL 2026
MS Dhoni (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brewis
, Shivam Dube, Urvil Patel, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma (wk), Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zak Foulkes
The post Sarfaraz Khan in CSK’s Playing XII: Ashwin backs VHT performer to come good in IPL 2026 appeared first on Inside Sport India.
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