Aniket Choudhary

Hailing from the modest town of Bikaner, Rajasthan, Aniket Choudhary steadily rose through the ranks of school cricket, and slowly graduated to Ranji cricket at the age of 21 after his talents were recognized and honed from the school level. A deceptively skiddy bowler with jaw-dropping cutters in his armory, the left-arm medium pacer's chicanery was recognized in Ranji cricket, where he plays for Rajasthan.

Aniket was subsequently awarded a lucrative IPL contract in 2013, as the Kings XI Punjab franchise snaffled him up at the auctions. After rising to fame because of his IPL paycheck, Aniket was picked to play for India A - the closest he ever got to a national call-up till date. His consistent domestic performances and some decent outings in his limited IPL opportunities earned him a hefty INR 2 crore paycheck from the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2017 edition of the IPL, and his performances were satisfactory enough for the franchise to retain him for the 2018 edition.

After almost 7 years in the circuit, Aniket has fallen victim to the stiff competition in the Indian quick bowling ranks off late. Nevertheless, in the age of T20, more consistent performances in Ranji cricket and the IPL, and perhaps a yard of pace would do him a world of good in his pursuit of donning India colours. After all, with all the weapons in India's pace armory, the void of a left-arm pacer remains since the departure of Zaheer Khan.