Gurnoor Brar was seen wreaking havoc as soon as he came to Team India, when he did not get a chance in IPL, he converted the dressing room into a school.

Lucknow: “For me, it is not the result but the preparation that matters.” This is what the new rising star of Indian cricket and fast bowler Gurnoor Brar has to say. Gurnoor, who made headlines by taking 3 wickets in the second ODI match played against Afghanistan at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, has made everyone his fan with his bowling. The biggest strength of this 6 feet 5 inches tall young pacer from Punjab is not only his speed of 140 km/hour, but his mature thinking about the game and unwavering belief in himself.

Brought Afghan batsmen to their knees in Ekana

In the second consecutive match against Afghanistan, Gurnoor Brar proved his sharp bowling. On the Ikana pitch, he took full advantage of his height and bowled sharp bouncers and accurate yorkers to put the opposition batsmen on the back foot.

While sharing his strategy in the press conference after the match, Gurnoor said that I do not think much about people’s expectations or speed gun. My entire focus is on bowling accurate hard length balls while having confidence in my abilities. I don’t care what the outcome will be. I want to repeat the same preparation every day. I know I have the potential to do even better.”

When I didn’t get a chance in IPL, I converted my dressing room into a school.

Gurnoor Brar was bought by Gujarat Titans (GT) in the mega auction of 2025 for a huge price of ₹1.30 crore. Interestingly, the captain of this team is Shubhman Gill from his home state (Punjab). Despite being with Gujarat Titans for two seasons, Gurnoor did not get a chance to play a single match (in the playing eleven), but he took it positively.

Giants gave great lessons

While sitting on the bench, Gurnoor did not get disappointed, rather he closely observed and learned the bowling and strategies of Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma and head coach Ashish Nehra.

Gurnoor said smilingly, “Every player wants to get on the field, I was also waiting for my chance. But during that time I was learning from the strengths and mistakes of others. I may not have got a chance in the IPL, but by the grace of God, I got a chance directly in the Indian team (blue jersey).”

This is how ‘Team India’ decided its journey by overcoming injury

Gurnoor’s journey to reach international cricket has not been easy. He missed the entire 2023-24 season due to a stress fracture, but the comeback he made is nothing short of exemplary:

After recovering from injury, he took the maximum of 22 wickets in the 2024 Shere Punjab T20 Cup. After this, he became the most successful bowler of Punjab by taking 26 wickets in 7 matches of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season.

Before the Test series against Bangladesh, he was included as a net bowler for Team India in Chennai. After this, after being selected in the ‘India A’ team, he took 8 wickets in two matches against Australia A.

What is Gurnoor’s success formula?

Talking about the main weapons of his bowling, Gurnoor said, “My first priority with the new ball is to get outswing, which creates difficulty for every batsman. If I don’t get swing, then I pull back my length a bit. I believe that every fast bowler must have a good yorker. I am doing special work on bowling the death overs, because yorker proves to be the biggest weapon against big hitters in the final overs.”