India’s talented batter Sarfaraz Khan has opened up on improving his fitness during the off-season. Khan revealed he has been running five kilometers in a half-an-hour time period. The right-hander has been picked in the Duleep trophy and he will play for Team B, which will be led by Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Meanwhile, after performing consistently in the domestic circuit, Sarfaraz Khan was able to get his maiden call-up in the Test series against England. He made his debut at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium and scored an impressive knock of 62 runs off 66 balls.

Khan scored 200 runs in five innings of three Test matches he played against England at an average of 50 and impressed one and all with his game.

Sarfaraz Khan said in an interview with Indian Express, “There is nothing called off-season for me. I would wake up by 4.15 am and by 4.30 am, I will start the day with long-distance running. It was very helpful to improve my fitness because, by the end of the month, I was able to run 5 km in 30-31 minutes.”

“It was my priority and we (his father Naushad and him) put a plan in place. So once I’m done with my running, I would hit the gym. So the first half of the day was allotted for fitness and fielding drills. The batting part would begin in the evening.”

Meanwhile, Khan is currently part of the Mumbai team for the Buchi Babu tournament, which started on Friday. 

Khan added that this isn’t time to rest and he wants to put in the hard yards to reap rewards.

“My father and I had a dream. It was to play for India and I was able to achieve it against England. But it shouldn’t be the end. Now, I’ve to prolong that dream as long as I can and for that, I have to do a lot of hard work. This isn’t the time to rest. If anything, I’ve to work harder,” said Sarfaraz.

Khan will look to come up with a consistent performance in the upcoming season.