January 13, 2026 — It was time to watch some live action from the temporary press box at the Centre of Excellence, with Punjab locking horns against Madhya Pradesh’s formidable batting unit in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. On a flat pitch, Punjab notched up a massive total of 345. At that juncture, yours truly had his eyes fixed on Gurnoor Brar, the well-built fast bowler from Punjab. The 6’5″ bowler’s first offering itself gave an indicator of his promise: nipped back off the seam quite a bit from on and around back of a length.
That was followed by a delivery to H Mantri, which seemed to be pounded on a length, before it straightened a wee bit on the angle. In this context, the original LBW decision being reversed is secondary. The keynote was how the tall fast bowler had forced a mistake from the batter with his hit-the-deck skills and a hint of nip. Soon, the rewards followed as he removed both Mantri and Yash Dubey. The delivery to dismiss Mantri exemplified his traits further: it pitched on a slightly shorter length, bounced extra, and moved just enough to catch the edge. In fact, he could have also dismissed Shubham Sharma but for a sitter being dropped.
The above-mentioned paragraphs don’t just provide a rough sketch for Gurnoor’s raw attributes but they also help us to gauge why Shubman Gill, his Punjab and Gujarat Titans teammate, was impressed by his bowling. Gill, the ODI and Test captain, also praised Gurnoor after the fast bowler took three wickets on his senior India debut, in an ODI against Afghanistan.
Just a month later, Gurnoor had a different challenge facing him. While bowling to England’s openers at Edgbaston, Gurnoor was under pressure: his first two overs went for 26 runs. Gurnoor, though, made a gutsy comeback, ending up with a couple of wickets. Here, Gill also deserves credit for showing faith in one of his frontline pace bowlers.
That gritty show told enough about his sound temperament. It also serves as the connecting dots to his redoubtable performances in excellent conditions for batting against Australia A last year, where he bagged eight wickets. Recently, in good climes for batting in Sri Lanka, he also burst open Sri Lanka A’s batting unit with a 10-wicket match haul in the first-class match. Simply put, Gurnoor seems to maintain his intensity levels for longer periods when the conditions aren’t exactly in his favour.
Ever since Gurnoor took a four-for on a dicey deck against Railways, you have heard whispers about his abilities among domestic cricket’s cognoscenti. Despite possessing immense potential, there is still a caveat or two to add: Gurnoor is still quite raw and his skills have to be polished. But with the selectors backing the bowler to hilt, there are enough reasons to believe that he could turn out to be a fine investment for the future.
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