In the 2018 Hindi film 'Laila Majnu', circumstances lead to Qais (Majnu) getting separated from Laila and is now set to meet her after four years. "Laila ka phone aaya tha, milna chahti hai aap se, miloge? (Laila called, she wanted to meet you. Will you?)" his friend asks. 'Laila...' He blushes and covers his face in his hands, anxiously with anticipation. Fine-tunes his hair, giving them a final touch before turning around. There is his Laila tearing up. First look towards her and Qais just falls on his knees, with his eyes slowly shutting down as if he was going into a slumber with words finding it hard to come through his teeth and whatever comes out is 'La-ila...'. It seemed like the burden of the wait of four years to catch her one glimpse weighed too heavily on his shoulders. He was almost intoxicated with the pain of the wait so much that if there was any other woman in place of Laila on that day, it wouldn't have mattered because for him, he was in love with the idea of love, he had created a Laila in his head and now couldn't make out the difference between which is which. He was just content seeing someone called Laila. The idea of being face-to-face had already scared the living daylights out of Qais and what happened when he finally saw her was just the raw emotion that came out. Qais was waiting for that moment for four years and when it finally happened, he didn't know how to react and his soul almost left him. He didn't know what else to do, in any other way he could have handled that situation.
You may be wondering what Laila Majnu and Qais are doing in celebration of Sarfaraz Khan. But when 326 runs get scored on a day of a Test match with hard-fought cricket from both sides on display and a few seconds of raw, uncontrollable and pure emotions stand out, you can't help but recall a cinematic parallel of sorts.
It was a shared dream for Naushad and his son Sarfaraz. His father has been his coach, teacher, guide and shoulder to lean on from basically when he learned how to hold a bat. Averaging 122, 154 and 92 in three consecutive Ranji Trophy seasons isn't a joke. Whatever the debate about the quality of the tournament be, it's still the pinnacle of domestic cricket in India and despite all of that, the elusive Test call-up still felt out of reach for the Mumbai cricketer who had plied his trade for Uttar Pradesh once.
His late arrival into the Test team could be alluded to so many things - selectors not being brave enough to hit the transition button early, the lack of fitness or maybe the negligible returns in the IPL for Sarfaraz. It is said that 'failure makes you stronger', here it was the continued rejection. Whether it was the Bangladesh series, the home series against Australia, the West Indies tour and even the England series at the start despite Virat Kohli being unavailable, one after the other, there was no mention of Sarfaraz in those 15-16 names.
Sarfaraz admitted at the press conference that he felt several kgs lighter that he was just able to get that India cap, a dream his father saw for him and his younger brother Musheer. This is what humble beginnings do to you, every achievement feels like a collective and every failure is personal. There are no bad guys here or room for ifs-and-buts and nor anyone was blamed, there was just gratefulness for what God has given and the relief that he was able to put in all that hard work for his father to witness living a dream that he saw.
The gratefulness was visible in the emotions as well. The parallel was drawn with that moment from Laila Majnu because the Khans like Qais were possessed by that one dream and when that was fulfilled, they didn't know how to celebrate it, they didn't know what to do, how to react and tears just rolled down. When Anil Kumble was presenting Sarfaraz with his cap, there was Naushad, standing on the side being the cheerleader for his son.
Wearing a 'Cricket is everyone's game' hoodie, Naushad stood for many things there - that you need someone by your side, he in his time may not have had that support, so he ensured that he would work day and night to give his sons the best possible platform to flourish; that a parent will go to the battleground if need be, for his child to provide for him; that one should never stop dreaming irrespective of innumerable personal and societal barriers, there might be something special in store even if it takes time.
Standing with hunched back as a proud father, the first bout of tears rolled down Naushad's eyes seeing that Baggy Blue was being handed over to Sarfaraz. Then the second round of tears as the sense of the occasion got to him. He quickly put on a brave face, rubbed his eyes and wiped off his tears. But little did he know, they were ready to abandon his eyes yet again. This time he was done fighting with tears, maybe because they were of the happy kind and let them flow wherever they wanted to.
After the cap presentation was done, Sarfaraz came to his father, took it off and let him get the feel of it. 'This is what we were working our backsides off for all these years,' - that gesture indicated. Naushad couldn't hold himself back and even kissed the cap. Then there was Sarfaraz's wife, standing quietly next to Naushad, witnessing all of this, which might have been quite new and overwhelming at the same time for her. She also caught a glimpse of all those years in those few minutes and why it meant so much to the Khan family that beneath the hijab, moist eyes were waiting for Sarfaraz to wipe them off and have her feel the Test cap, which wasn't any less than a valuable treasure for all of them.
The emotions took a back seat after waiting for four hours to come out to bat, which was nothing according to Sarfaraz in front of the patience of perseverance of several years, it was time for the main business to commence. After getting through a period of nerves, Sarfaraz as he said was in his zone - of playing spinners through his areas, threading the gaps and just being him. Slowly and steadily, the innings started taking shape and the set batter Ravindra Jadeja, who was in his 90s took a backseat. It was a Sarfaraz show through and through as he completed his fifty on debut off just 48 balls, only the joint-second fastest by an Indian in his first game.
The facial expression in his subdued celebrations spoke louder than those aggressive and guts-screaming ones he used to do in the Ranji Trophy, which probably were just out of frustration of not getting picked. As he lifted his bat, there was a sense of satisfaction on Sarfaraz's face and a relief that he does belong at this level. His father, on the other hand, while fighting his ongoing battle with tears was pumped up, sported a wide smile and cheered on as did Sarfaraz's wife.
But all of this was cut short by a terrible mix-up as Sarfaraz stood helpless, couldn't blame or yell at his senior partner and didn't have any other option but to leave the field. More than Sarfaraz, captain Rohit Sharma was animated and had a show of his own in the dressing room where he could be seen shouting, throwing his cap. The camera panned on to dejected Sarfaraz a few times after the dismissal but 62 (66) on a day which began at 33/3 for India was a quality effort from a player, who was playing his first-ever Test match.
As Sarfaraz mentioned, he was just content after getting the cap and not too flustered because of the way he got out. "Koi baat nahi, game hai, yeh sab chalta rehta hai, (Sometimes there can be a bit of miscommunication - it's part of the game. Sometimes you get run-out, sometimes you don't - these things keep happening)," he would say. It may sound cliche as Sarfaraz repeated what many batters before him have said in the past after a mix-up but this attitude may go a long way for Sarfaraz in his career, which might turn out to be many things but short. And, as they say, well begun is half the job done.
