Kolkata , December 21 : A 23 year old youngster from Punjab will be feeling the pressure as he embarks on his first series for Dhoni and his team during India’s forthcoming series against Australia .There were a few eye brows raised as Brainder Balbirsingh Sran got picked for the series against the World Champions . Like many, the bowler himself was surprised when the selection news came out on Saturday evening.
Born in a farmers family ,Brainder Balbirsingh Sran live with his father in Panniwala – a small village in Haryana . Sran made his first-class debut in Ranji Trophy for Punjab against Orissa in 2011. The young pacer was impressive in his first outing picking up three wickets in the first innings followed by four in the second.
It is very interesting to know that Sran had never dreamt of becoming a cricketer until he was 17 . His passion was to become a boxer and had even trained at the famous Bhiwani Boxing Club under trainer Jagdish Singh, who is known for coaching Olympic medalist Vijender Singh.
But a newspaper advertisement of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab’s talent hunt drew Sran’s attention to cricket. The young pacer went to Mohali to participate in the trials and impressed the Punjab selectors with his sharp pace. But Sran had to wait for his first appearance in the highest level as the Kings XI unit failed to select him. But the Punjab state team picked the talented bowler for the 2011 season.Last year Sran was bought by Rahul Dravid to play for Rajasthan Royals at the players’ auction for Rs. 10 Lakh .
In his first match of the 2015-16 season, Sran cleaned up the Railways team with six wickets in the first innings after Punjab had posted 604 on the board. Punjab’s skipper Yuvraj Singh immediately took to Twitter saying Sran’s spell reminded him of a young Zaheer Khan.
Sran picked up 18 wickets in this year’s Ranji season at an average of 35.66. He ended up as the second leading wicket-taker for Punjab.
Known to be one of the fastest left-arm pacers in the circuit, Sran impressed in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy as well with 14 wickets from six matches so far. All eyes would be on the young pacer when Punjab taken on Himachal Pradesh in the quarterfinal clash on December 23.
Australian umpire John Ward was injured when Sran struck him with a straight drive during the match between Punjab and Tamil Nadu in Dindigul. Sran wished he have an opportunity of going and meeting Ward .