The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has banned Naushad Khan, father of wonder kid Sarfaraz Khan, for one year. Khan was found guilty of “misbehaviour” against MCA joint-secretary Lalchand Rajput. Khan will be denied the right to vote or enter any MCA premises for a year.
The decision was taken at the association’s managing committee meeting here on Friday. Khan has been up in arms against the association for declaring his son ‘overage’ at an U-14 tournament last month. Questioning the report, Naushad got another test done on his son and tried to establish that the initial medical report was wrong.
“My son was singled out by the MCA. He had to undergo a lot of trauma and as a father I did what I had to,” Khan said. “If they want to punish me for trying to fight for my son’s rights, so be it. I fought for his justice. I’m ready to face the action to save Sarfaraz’s career. The MCA, after all, is our parent body,” Khan said.
Naushad allegedly misbehaved with Rajput but he contended that he had tried to establish that his son was not overage. “They had initially declared that my son was eligible only for U-19 tournaments. It was unfair. I went to the MCA office and tried to tell Rajput that the association’s decision was hampering my son’s career. He was unfairly being singled out,” Khan said.
The MCA conducted another test on the boy recently and declared him eligible for U-14 cricket. When contacted, Rajput confirmed the decision but did not elaborate. Sarfaraz, one of the prolific scorers in Mumbai’s junior circuit, rose to fame after scoring a mammoth 439 in a Giles Shield match last year. Since then, he has had to deal with a lot of fame and expectations.
