3) Barinder Sran (India)
Member of the Bhiwani Boxing Club, a Punjab-based establishment and the former training arena of Vijender Singh, the star of the Bollywood film, Fugly. Oh yes, Vijender is also an Olympic bronze medal winner. Sran, a former wrestler like many of his brothers and friends in Punjab, got fascinated by the game when he saw the video song of Kings XI Punjab.
4) Jason Holder (West Indies)
Captain of the West Indies Test team, Holder is a surprise entrant to this list. Tall and unassuming, he has installed a punching bag inside the dressing room to ease out his pent-up frustration of seeing Marlon Samuels fail innings after innings. This is the sixth such bag, one for each innings of this series. Having almost the same height as Tyson Fury, the lesser-known Tyson in boxing circles, Jason Holder is the holder of many records in his domestic competition, the Barbadian Boxers League (BBL). He intends to play the real BBL.
5) Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan)
Sehwag’s nemesis on the cricket field, and on a popular social media platform, Akhtar has biceps equivalent to Scott Steiner, but an economy similar to Scott Styris. Akhtar’s entry in the ring is accompanied by an 80-m run-up from inside the green room, followed by an uppercut on the opponent, a punch he famously learned from Sachin Tendulkar in 2003.
Critics have argued that he is all about speed, and sometimes errs in his line, taking down the referee in the process. Always accompanying him to the ring is a legendary Pakistani keeper, who squeaks out “Shabhash Shoaib Bhai” from the sidelines.
