In crisis, Mumbai's young guns, Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, bat for the poor

MUMBAI: In normal circumstances, they would have been displaying their talent for their franchises in front of packed houses in IPL-13.
However, the outbreak of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown has seen two of Mumbai’s most talented young batsmen —Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal — bat on a different pitch. Both are now trying to help those hit hardest by the national lockdown.
Living in his village Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh since India went into a lockdown, Sarfaraz has decided to help migrant workers there. Moved by their plight, he has even decided to skip the Eid (most likely to fall on Sunday in India) celebrations this time.
Last week, the Mumbai youngster, along with his father-cum-coach Naushad Khan, distributed lunch packets and mineral water bottles to migrant workers, who were arriving in auto-rickshaws and trucks, on the Gorakhpur road. Each of these lunch packs contained a banana and apples.
“We will not celebrate Eid this time. The money we would have spent to buy new clothes and accessories on Eid, will now be spent on those needing help. We urge all those who are economically well to also come forward to help others in this time,” Sarfaraz said.
“We’re distributing food and water bottles to people because so many people are returning to their villages due to the fear of coronavirus. They are hungry and thirsty, and have been travelling for so many days. We also stay hungry during Ramadan, so we have an idea about the value of food and water,” said the Mumbai batsman.
The 22-year-old enjoyed a dream, breakthrough Ranji Trophy campaign for Mumbai last season, scoring 928 runs in just six games at an incredible average of 154.66.
Sarfaraz plays for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, which has been postponed indefinitely due to the lockdown. Meanwhile, earlier this month, India’s under-19 World Cup opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and his coach Jwala Singh pitched in to help groundsmen of the city, who have become virtually unemployed due to the lockdown. Jwala Singh posted pictures of him and Jaiswal distributing grocery packets to groundsmen of various maidans in Mumbai, on Facebook.
“#Lockdown3. Time to help people who are backbone of cricket. All our groundsmen who work day and night to get us good pitches and grounds. I and Yashasvi did this today to all grounds like the Azad maidan, Cross maidan , Matunga, Oval maidan, Shivaji Park, Police Gymkhana and the Air India Sports Club. A small contribution can help people to survive at tough time. Plz look around you and help the people those are in need.. may be this post can help others to think like this…A chain of human help can beat any challenge which is much needed at this tough time. #willbeatcorona19,” he wrote, along
with the pictures.