Barinder Sran is a left-arm fast bowler, but he could just as easily have been a boxer. The days of training at Bhiwani Boxing Club, whose founder had trained India's Olympic medallist Vijender Singh, are in the past now. Sran was picked for the Indian ODI team to play Australia in Australia, with only eight List A matches under his belt. Sran is not outright quick but he is accurate, and his skills prompted his state mate Yuvraj Singh to tweet, "Reminds me of a young @ImZaheer"

Sran, the son of a farmer, took to cricket after seeing a Kings XI Punjab advertisement calling youngsters to take part in a trial. He didn't get an IPL contract, but a boy who had till then only played village cricket with a tennis ball got through to the Kings Cup and became one among the top 35-40 uncapped cricketers in Punjab. He trained at an academy in Chandigarh, then having won the India Under-19 leg of the Gatorade Speedster competition, got to train at the ICC academy in Dubai. Injuries forced his career off track until he showed up for another trial for another IPL team, impressed Rahul Dravid and was picked up by Rajasthan Royals in the 2015 auction.
ESPNcricinfo staff