Naushad Khan, Safaraz Khan’s father, summed it up beautifully when he said in the commentary box, “Raat ko waqt do guzarne ke liye, sooraj apne hi samay pe niklega”

“Give the night’s passage its time. The sun will emerge in its own time.”

Naushad had a dream of watching his son make his Test debut for India. That dream came to life when Khan was given the 311th Test cap by legendary Anil Kumble for the third Test against England at Rajkot. The youngster has been waiting in the wings despite scoring a mountain of runs in the domestic circuit for Mumbai but finally got what he deserved.

After playing 45 first-class matches and scoring almost 4000 runs at an average of 70, Khan had a Test cap to show to his emotional father. Khan received a pat on the back from Indian skipper Rohit Sharma as he made his way to the middle after waiting for more than four hours in the dressing room.

Indian wicket-keeper and now commentator Dinesh Karthik explained it meticulously when he said that four hours are nothing as Khan has been padded up for this opportunity for more than four years.

In the post-match press conference, Khan said, “My father has worked really hard on my and my brother’s cricket. This is the proudest moment of my life. All my father’s efforts have paid off. It felt good he saw me getting the Test cap. My wife was also emotional. I felt very happy that I could do this for them.”

Khan was optimistic about handling the England spinners as he has all the first-class experience of playing against quality spinners.

“I play the spinners really well and the fielders were all up. I have been doing this for a long while now”.

Khan said he wanted to remain patient. “Yes I was padded up for four-and-half hours. I told myself I have waited for so many years, let me show more patience and wait a bit more,” Sarfaraz said.

Khan went on to score an enterprising knock of 62 runs but his innings ended after a horrible mix-up with Ravindra Jadeja.