Sarfaraz Khan

Sarfaraz Khan was spotted in the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2014 when he impressed all for his aggressive batting style and classy shots. He had piled on 211 runs at an astounding average economy of 70.33 in the premier tournament. At the tender age of 17, the youngster had the world at his feet. Although he had a limited role to play in Mumbai's emphatic triumph, the youngster had surely earned his stripes to be at the podium with his teammates.

The RCB under the leadership of Virat Kohli decided to bank on his talent and the team bought him in the IPL 2015 auction for Rs 50 lakh. An unforgettable day arrived for Sarfaraz when the skipper Kohli bowed in front of him for his 21-ball-45 against Rajasthan Royals where he displayed his repertoire of shots and justified the backings he was receiving from the management. His exuberant days with the RCB came to a halt when he was deemed too unfit to play for the RCB.

In a rather surprising move, the RCB decided to retain him while releasing the big names such as KL Rahul and Chris Gayle before the IPL 2018. However, Sarfaraz could not justify the retaining and failed to capitalize on the opportunities provided by the franchise scoring a mere 51 runs from 7 innings, and was subsequently released before the IPL 2019. Sarfaraz who was looking to revive his T20 career was signed by the Punjab Kings for INR 25 lakhs at the player auctions prior to IPL 2019.

A young gun, Sarfaraz certainly has the ability and needs one big inning to shoot him back to prominence after an average 2020 IPL season. Sarfaraz would be keeping his hopes alive and would be backing his abilities to support the PBKS lower middle-order in the 14th edition of the cash-rich league.

(As of June 2021)