The son of a woodcutter from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Kamran Khan had no experience in first-class cricket when he was picked by the Rajasthan Royals to play in the second season of the IPL in 2009. The left-arm seamer was spotted by the team’s director of coaching, Darren Berry in a Twenty20 tournament held in Mumbai. Kamran took everyone by surprise when, in a warm-up game against the Cape Cobras, he bowled Justin Ontong with an off-stump yorker. Seeing that, Royals skipper Shane Warne believed he was capable of touching the 140 kph mark.

In 2011, he was picked by the newly formed franchise of Pune Warriors India.