North Zone’s Gurnoor Brar bowls during the Duleep Trophy 2026 semiFinal against South Zone, at the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds, in Bengaluru on August 31, 2026.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Need of the hour: Tilak curbed his attacking instincts to build a steady innings.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Former Sri Lanka allrounder Farveez Maharoof feels rookie pacer Gurnoor Brar could be the ‘X-Factor’ in absence of Jasprit Bumrah and says he would be tempted to hand the 26-year-old his Test debut in the two-match series against Sri Lanka, beginning in Galle on Saturday.

Under pressure following home series defeat to South Africa, fifth-placed India will be without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah when they resume Test action with a two-match tour of Sri Lanka.

Mohammed Siraj is expected to lead the pace attack but there is a speculation whether inexperienced Brar could make his Test debut replacing Prasidh Krishna who played in the last Test against Afghanistan.

“The ability to reverse-swing the ball, especially with the older ball, is something Bumrah brings, and that is going to be a massive miss for India,” Maharoof replied to a PTI query in a virtual media interaction organised by Sony Sports Network. “That is where I think they could lack some wicket-taking ability. Mohammed Siraj is a good bowler, with all due respect to him, but when you compare the two fast bowlers, there is a bit of a difference.” But at the same time, the former pace bowling all-rounder said he would be “tempted” to give a debut to Brar especially for the fact that the tall Punjab pacer’s raw pace, bounce and aggressive approach especially the way he gave body blows to several Test-squad batters during the warm-up match.

“I really like Gurnoor Brar. I think he can be the X-factor. He has the bounce, the pace and the fighting spirit. He can be nasty,” Maharoof said.

“If you watched the warm-up game, some of the deliveries he bowled to batters who are in the Test squad made them quite uneasy, and he even hit a couple of players on the body.

“If I were in the Indian think tank, I would be tempted to give Gurnoor a go. I know he has only played white-ball cricket for India, but he brings that X-factor. In short, burst spells, when you want to break a batter’s rhythm, he can be a lethal weapon.”

Tall Punjab pacer Brar was picked for the Test squad despite having only a handful of First-Class matches and limited IPL experience.

The 26-year-old Brar subsequently made his ODI debut against Afghanistan, and has picked up 11 wickets in six matches.

Brar also featured in India A’s tour to Sri Lanka last month, picking up a 10-wicket haul in the first match at Galle.

Suthar as third spinner

Maharoof says India will miss the now retired Ravichandran Ashwin and the injured Washington Sundar, who is ruled out of the first Test as Sri Lankan pitches often produce bounce for spinners rather than just turn.

While the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav will be the first choice spinners there is a debate over the third spinner.

India have young left-arm spinner Manav Suthar who claimed seven wickets on his debut against Afghanistan, while there is also uncapped 31-year-old offspinner Saransh Jain who toured Sri Lanka with India A and claimed seven wickets and also made an unbeaten 70 batting at No. 7.

But Maharoof feels Suthar with ability to generate bounce should have the edge even as that makes it all three left-arm spinners.

“If you ask me, I would be tempted to go with the two left-arm spinners as well as Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep is a frontrunner to start in Galle, especially considering his record and the number of wickets he took in the last Test against Afghanistan.

“I see three spinners for India. Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and either Suthar or Jain. Ideally, you would like an off-spinner for variation, but I would not be surprised if Manav Suthar plays because his ability to get bounce off the surface could be very handy in Galle.”

“Overall, looking at India’s bowling line-up, it is quite competitive, with two seamers and three spinners.”

India’s flamboyant keeper-batter Rishabh Pant may be struggling at the moment but Maharoof feels he could be dangerous and take the match away with his unorthodox technique.

Pant got out for 2 and 28 in the warmup game that they won by six wickets in Colombo.

“If I were in the Sri Lankan dressing room, I would be very worried about Rishabh Pant. He is a player who, within half an hour or 45 minutes, can completely change the game.

“We have seen him do it in the past. He has that X-factor and has been given the licence to play his natural game. He is going to face a lot of left-arm spin and off-spin.

“Sri Lanka will surely go with two frontline spinners as well as two part-timers, but the way Pant scores runs, with his unorthodox style, he is going to be dangerous.”

Series prediction: 1-1 draw

The cricketer-turned-commentator further said India are a very strong side, particularly with Ravindra Jadeja batting at No. 7, and expects the all-rounder to have a major influence.

However, he predicted a 1-1 draw in the series, with Sri Lanka’s ‘King of Galle’, Prabath Jayasuriya, set to play a key role, especially with the crosswind expected to be a major factor at the venue.

“The biggest challenge for Indian batters will certainly be the spinners. I certainly feel Prabath Jayasuriya will be the biggest challenge for the Indian batters. He is our main weapon, while Asitha Fernando will be important with the fast bowling.” “We have nicknamed him the ‘King of Galle’ because of the number of wickets he has taken there.

“He knows how to bowl with the wind, and the wind is going to be a major factor in Galle because of the drift the spinners can generate.

“It is going to be a crosswind, so the Indian spinners will have to adapt quickly to that factor. How quickly they adjust to the wind is going to be massive,” added Maharoof, who has played 22 Tests and 109 ODIs and 8 T20Is for Sri Lanka.

The India tour of Sri Lanka will be live telecast on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV.

Published – August 12, 2026 12:25 am IST

India’s Nitish Kumar during a practice session ahead of the third One-Day International match against Afghanistan at the Chepauk stadium, Chennai, on June 19, 2026.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

India’s Gurnoor Brar in action during the second One-Day International cricket match against Afghanistan at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on June 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Gill led from the front in Dharamshala.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

For the scribes who spend any length of time covering domestic cricket in India, there may be jaded familiarity with a line trotted out by players aspiring for higher honours when probed on matters of selection. “Our job is to just score runs or take wickets, selection will take care of itself,” is the common refrain.

A little over a week ago, with the announcement of India’s squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, a fresh reminder arrived that mere runs or wickets don’t always suffice. The nub of the subsequent critique directed at the selection panel from fans and former cricketers was this: do performances in the Ranji Trophy, the country’s premier First Class tournament, really matter while picking India’s Test team?

Recurring question

It is a question that crops up usually when a Test squad is chosen close on the heels of a Ranji season, and overlooks the standout run-getter or wicket-taker. 

You don’t have to rewind to the distant past to consider the predicament of Sarfaraz Khan. For a span of three seasons from 2019-20 to 2022-23 — the red-ball tournament was cancelled in 2020-21 due to Covid — the middle-order batter from Mumbai churned out runs like clockwork. In the 2021-22 season, Sarfaraz rose to the top of the leaderboard with 982 runs in nine innings at a Bradmanesque average of 122.75. It came on the back of 928 runs at 154.66 in 2019-20.

Yet, a call-up eluded Sarfaraz until the beginning of 2024 when he was drafted into the squad for the second Test of a five-match series against England. A handful of opportunities with mixed results later, the 28-year-old, a few kilos lighter but with his insatiable appetite for run-scoring undiminished, finds himself back on the periphery of the Test set-up.

The trigger for the renewal of this debate is the decision to name Gurnoor Brar in India’s pace attack for the assignment against Hashmatullah Shahidi & Co. With Jasprit Bumrah resting after the exertions of the T20 World Cup and the IPL, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna are the other pacers in the 15-member contingent.

Gurnoor’s maiden call-up has seemingly come at the expense of Jammu & Kashmir’s Auqib Nabi, who has produced jaw-dropping returns over the past two seasons. After claiming 44 scalps in 2024-25, the medium-pacer propelled himself to the front and centre of his team’s epochal title-winning feat in 2025-26 with 60 wickets. Nabi’s overall career figures read 156 wickets in 41 First Class appearances at an average of 18.37 and a strike-rate of 38.1.

In comparison, Gurnoor has picked up 52 wickets in 18 matches (average 27.30, strike-rate 45.3) over the course of three years. Last season, the 26-year-old from Punjab played just two Ranji matches and snared a total of four victims.

Now, it isn’t exactly good optics that a fast bowler who has honed his craft to a fine degree on the Ranji circuit is ignored in favour of another whose numbers don’t quite scream for attention. To infer on the basis of these examples, however, that Ranji performances have entirely ceased to matter wouldn’t be accurate either. In this very squad, for instance, the emergence of left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey, whose 69 scalps were the most in the 2024-25 Ranji season, points to his exertions in domestic cricket getting due reward.

As chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained during a media interaction, Nabi, whose rise from the spartan surroundings of Baramulla is an endearing triumph of human spirit, hasn’t gone unnoticed. “You don’t necessarily pick a lot of seamers for a Test team in India. Nabi was close. There was a chat about him. He has had some incredible performances for Jammu & Kashmir,” Agarkar said.

What selectors mull over

Reassuring as that is for the 29-year-old from J&K, Gurnoor’s induction underlines that there is more to selection than plain numbers. Whilst evaluating fast bowlers in particular, the presence of certain qualitative attributes to supplement the prevailing dynamics of the pace attack is an important consideration for the selectors.

“It is not only about someone taking wickets. It is also about the balance of the squad and how players fit into that. It is not always about picking the best players. It is about picking players that play best with each other,” former national selector Jatin Paranjpe, who is head coach of North Mumbai Panthers in the Mumbai Premier League, told The Hindu.

By most accounts, Gurnoor’s ability to generate disconcerting bounce — he stands at 6’5” — at brisk pace ticks the right boxes. The first whiff of the Agarkar-led panel’s interest in the man from Muktsar came when he was drafted into the India-A set-up last year. “With Gurnoor, we have seen a lot of promise over the last season-and-a-half. He’s a tall guy with a bit of pace,” the chief selector noted.

If India is to return to the summit of Test cricket, it is imperative for Shubman Gill to have at his disposal a well-rounded pace attack, of the kind that Virat Kohli marshalled during his tenure. 

In this context, the urge to give Gurnoor a run-out is understandable, for he could be an ideal foil to Bumrah and Siraj. Bumrah, of course, is a cunning exponent of late swing with a bag of other tricks up his sleeve. Siraj can shape the new ball away from the right-hander, but relies primarily on the wobble-seam delivery to home in on the stumps. But both are at their most lethal when targeting the fuller end of the good-length zone. The likes of Akash Deep and Harshit Rana, who tend to move the ball off the seam, also operate at comparable speeds from similar release points.

Since the exit of Ishant Sharma in 2021, what India hasn’t had is a genuinely tall quick who can consistently unsettle batters with variable bounce. Sure, there is Prasidh, six Tests old, with the tools at 6’3” to hit the deck and cause discomfort. But the 30-year-old has been impeded by an erratic radar.

It is worth remembering that the absence of a lanky, menacing operator was keenly felt on South African shores in 2021-22. At Johannesburg and Cape Town, where India lost to fritter away a 1-0 advantage, South Africa’s speedsters leveraged their towering frames to draw more uneven bounce.

A different profile

Nabi’s strengths lie elsewhere. He is not very quick through the air, nor has he the physical gifts to extract considerable lift. His main ally is the capacity to find lateral movement without erring in line or length — think of his dismissals of K.L. Rahul and Karun Nair in February’s Ranji final in Hubballi. The J&K spearhead can also get the old ball to reverse, as he did to great effect in an encounter against Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

For the moment, Nabi will have to stay patient. And perhaps believe in the cliche that his job is to keep taking wickets; selection will take care of itself.

Published – May 30, 2026 02:28 am IST