Young batsman Sarfaraz Khan, who made it to India's playing eleven for the first Test cricket match against New Zealand due to Shubman Gill's injury, fulfilled his childhood dream by scoring a century and clearly indicated that he is no longer just a substitute player. Sarfaraz scored 150 runs and shared a big partnership with Rishabh Pant (99). With this, India was successful in setting a target of 107 runs in front of the Kiwi team despite trailing by 356 runs in the first innings.

Sarfaraz's father Naushad also had a dream that his son would play Test cricket and score big. This was the reason why this 26-year-old batsman did not forget to mention his father. He said in the press conference after the match, "I talk to my father often because he keeps motivating me all the time. I felt good because this was my first century playing for India. This has been a dream for me since childhood. I am very happy."

Sarfaraz knows that it is not easy to make a place in the Indian middle order but he wants to focus only on the present instead of thinking about the future.

He said, "I always keep in mind that tomorrow is uncertain. It has happened in the past that thinking about tomorrow has spoiled my present as well. That is why I now want to live only in the present."

Sarfaraz showed during his innings that he is a good off-side batsman. New Zealand's fast bowlers bowled short pitch balls to him on which he scored easily on the off side. He scored 83 runs out of his 150 runs on the off side. He said, "I like to play the rising ball. There is a bouncy wicket at my home (Mumbai) on which I practice regularly. They (New Zealand's fast bowlers) were trying to bowl short balls outside the off for me and I just played accordingly. It was fun.''

Sarfraz shared a 177-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Rishabh Pant. Pant was recovering a little from his knee injury and was struggling to find his rhythm initially. So Sarfraz faced more of the New Zealand fast bowlers in the first hour and gave more strikes to his partner after the spin bowlers came in.

Sarfaraz said, "When the left-arm spinner was bowling, I was trying to give the strike to Pant. I knew that he would dominate them. We were trying to put pressure on the bowlers from both ends because I was also facing the fast bowling attack well." India has set a target of 107 runs in front of New Zealand but Sarfaraz hopes that his team will be successful in defending it.

He said, "This is not an easy wicket to bat on. I don't think the game is out of our hands yet. The ball is still cutting in and out. So if we manage to take two or three wickets in the beginning, their (New Zealand's) batting can collapse."