It was a day of two halves at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence Ground 2. The first half saw a relentless Gurnoor Brar tear apart South Zone batting line-up with a three-wicket haul. The second half saw a resilient Tilak Varma battle it out for his team, acting as an anchor to pull them from rock bottom towards the surface.
Gurnoor’s first spell of the day threatened an early finish to South Zone’s first innings in the ongoing semi-final 2 of the Duleep Trophy 2026.
While bowlers generally take a few overs to settle into a rhythm, Gurnoor looked in rhythm from the word go. With his fifth delivery, he removed the set batter, Narayan Jagadeesan. There was little the wicketkeeper-batter could do about that delivery. Angled in, it moved away a fraction from a good length to take the off stump – it was a pacer’s delight.
Ravichandran Smaran, the highest run-scorer of the last Ranji season, tried to assert his dominance against Gurnoor. The left-handed batter smashed three boundaries in an over. Quick to correct his mistake, Gurnoor pitched one in the middle that squared up Smaran and knocked over the off stump. On that occasion, Smaran played all around it as he was beaten by the late movement.
A bit of moisture was helping Gurnoor move the ball off the seam, and he was hitting the right areas to reap the rewards. His tail up, a fiery Gurnoor proved too hot to handle for Kodimela Himateja, as he gloved one straight to Kanhaiya Wadhawan.
Gurnoor made sure that the first session belonged to North Zone. In the past, the 6ft 5in bowler has produced spells in which he has bent his back, dug the ball in short and bounced out batters on pitches that looked good for batting.
So far in his short career, he has made a name for himself by hitting the deck hard, making use of his height and getting batters out in a certain way. That is why it was heartening to see Gurnoor moving the ball off the seam and getting his wickets.
Just a day after arriving from Sri Lanka, Gurnoor got down to business. Despite not playing at all in the Sri Lanka Test series, he did not look rusty. The way he operated, he looked hungry for wickets. Knowing that there is heavy competition among the pacers in the Test team, Gurnoor is making sure that he keeps performing.
For South Zone, before the lunch break, apart from Tilak, all the specialist batters were back in the dugout. The onus was on Tilak to lead the fightback, and he did exactly what his team needed of him.
Bringing his experience to the fore, he navigated through the testing spells and eased into his innings. Shreyas Gopal helped him at the start of his innings by making sure the scoreboard kept ticking at a steady pace, while Tilak bided his time in a 175-run match-turning partnership.
In the face-off between Tilak and Gurnoor, the former emerged victorious, scoring 29 runs off 44 deliveries. Desperate for wickets, Gurnoor tried different things, but in doing so, he went all over the place. That is why he remained wicketless for the next two sessions. The Punjab pacer ended the day with a four-wicket haul.
After the drinks break, Tilak began to look increasingly at ease. The three capped Indian pacers – Gurnoor, Anshul Kamboj and Arshdeep Singh – were not given much to work with, and Tilak was in no hurry to manufacture runs. He waited for the loose ball and, when it arrived, made full use.
His seven boundaries told the story of his approach. Two overpitched deliveries disappeared through the covers, three short ones were cut over the third-man region, while a pull through mid-wicket and a hook added to his tally. Every one of those boundaries had come off the pacers, a reflection of how well Tilak was judging their length and picking the moments to attack.
Spin, however, presented a different challenge. Tilak found it harder to keep the scoreboard moving against it, even when Ayush Badoni came on with his part-time off-spin. The gaps were harder to find and the easy singles were fewer. It remains an area of his batting that Tilak will need to sharpen, particularly as his game continues to develop at the highest level.
For a natural stroke-maker like Tilak, it is never easy to curb his natural instincts, but the way he batted showed why the selectors and the Indian team management have so much faith in him.
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