Shubman promises, pacers deliver: Rookie fast bowlers impress in Auckland
By the end of New Zealand’s innings, Gurnoor Brar had started getting into Blair Tickner’s face. The six-foot-five fast bowler was daring New Zealand’s No. 11 to hit him for a six at Eden Park, a ground where the short boundaries can make life uncomfortable for even the quickest of bowlers.
If Virat Kohli ever became a fast bowler, you can imagine him doing this. Getting up close to the opposition’s No. 11 and daring the poor guy to hit the fastest bowler in the team for a six. 1st ODI Scorecard | Highlights
Tickner, though, was ready for some banter. He had just hit Arshdeep Singh for three sixes in the previous over, which had essentially set off Gurnoor’s little shenanigans on the pitch. He pointed towards the stumps, seemingly telling the young fast bowler to aim at them instead of trying to rip his head off.
The next ball? Another sharp bouncer aimed at Tickner’s head. This time, New Zealand’s No. 11 barely survived.
One ball later? Another short delivery. Tickner could only manage an edge through to the wicketkeeper, bringing an end to New Zealand’s innings at 185.
India had run through the New Zealand batting line-up, bowling the hosts out in just 40.2 overs. Without Tickner’s late counterattack, which included four sixes and a boundary, New Zealand would have struggled to cross 180 on Wednesday, November 4.
But Gurnoor’s little exchange with Tickner was a fitting end to what India had served up throughout the innings. It was a glimpse of the attitude that the young fast bowler brings to the attack, and perhaps a hint of what India could take into the 2027 ODI World Cup.
In a year’s time, when India head to South Africa for the tournament, they will want fast bowlers who are prepared to bend their backs, extract whatever bounce the surface offers and keep coming at batters throughout the 50 overs. Gurnoor’s spell in Auckland was an encouraging demonstration of that possibility.
Speaking before the first ODI, India captain Shubman Gill had offered an explanation for why tall, quick bowlers could be so difficult to handle, particularly through the middle overs.
“I have played in the middle overs a lot and I have seen, if those (tall) bowlers can hit the right areas – obviously hitting the right areas is the key – if tall fast bowlers can hit the right areas, it is a lot more difficult to score runs than someone who is bowling at 135, 130 [kph],” Gill said.
“You have to be really precise with your shot-making. You have to be really on top of your game to be able to score against someone who is 140 [kph]-plus, who is 6’1″, 6’2″, 6’3″. And there is a lot more risk when you are trying to score freely [against] that kind of bowler.”
In short, when a tall fast bowler hits the deck hard in the middle overs, the batter has a problem. The bounce can cramp his room, the pace can hurry his shots, and suddenly the singles that keep an innings moving are not quite as easy to come by.
That was the challenge New Zealand faced in Auckland, although India’s plans had a little more nuance to them than simply asking their tall fast bowler to bowl short.
GURNOOR BRAR’S BOUNCE, KAMBOJ’S CRAFT
After Arshdeep Singh’s opening spell had yielded two wickets, India needed to keep the pressure on New Zealand’s best middle-order batters. Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips and Tom Latham were the players the hosts would have backed to rebuild the innings, and Gurnoor Brar and Anshul Kamboj were entrusted with the job of making sure they never quite got comfortable.
Gurnoor got to work straight away. The tall fast bowler from Punjab has emerged as an intriguing option for India’s plans ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup, and his spell offered a glimpse of why his physical attributes could be useful in conditions that reward pace and bounce.
He began by targeting a well-set Tim Seifert with short-of-a-length deliveries, repeatedly making the New Zealand batter play from the back foot. Seifert, who had scored a century in the preceding T20I, was forced to look for a release shot as the scoring became harder to sustain.
Gurnoor seemed to recognise that Seifert was getting desperate to break free. He bent his back and produced a sharp short ball, slightly outside off stump, which the batter could only sky towards mid-on. Substitute fielder Ruturaj Gaikwad was waiting underneath it, and India had their breakthrough.
A couple of overs later, it was Latham’s turn. Gurnoor had already made the New Zealand captain contend with the short ball when he followed it up with a sharp, fuller delivery on the stumps. Latham, stuck in his crease, could only push tentatively at it. The ball flew straight back towards Gurnoor, who held on with his left hand during his follow-through.
Two wickets, two different dismissals, but the same underlying idea. Gurnoor had used his pace and bounce to make the batters uncomfortable, then capitalised when they were unsure of what was coming next.
If Gurnoor was an exhibition of raw ability, Kamboj was an example of well-earned craft. A symphony, if you will.
MISERY ANSHUL KAMBOJ
Kamboj is neither particularly tall nor an express fast bowler. What he does exceptionally well, though, is judge his lengths and use subtle variations in seam movement to keep batters guessing. He may not have Gurnoor’s height, but he has a knack for making small adjustments that can change the outcome of a delivery.
His first victim was Mitchell Santner. Having bowled an entire over from around the wicket and pushed the ball across the left-hander, Kamboj switched to over the wicket’s opposite angle, coming round the wicket to attack Santner’s off stump.
The change worked immediately. Santner edged the very first delivery from the new angle, and the ball trickled back into the stumps. Kamboj had set him up by showing him one line before bringing the ball back into play from another.
Nathan Smith was Kamboj’s second wicket, although much of the credit for that dismissal belonged to Virat Kohli, who took a sensational catch at second slip. The catch was a reminder that India’s pressure did not come from the bowlers alone. The fielders were alert, the plans were clear, and New Zealand were finding it difficult to escape the squeeze.
Gurnoor and Kamboj’s spells were good examples of what bowling coach Morne Morkel has been trying to build: smart, varied plans backed by the ability to execute them. India did not have their first-choice pace attack available, but the replacements were not simply trying to fill overs. They were finding ways to make life difficult for the opposition.
The opening ODI could well turn out to be one of the more interesting talking points of the series for that reason. India’s fast bowling is not at full strength at the moment, but the attack showed that it believes it can put opposition batters under pressure even away from home. There is a difference between possessing pace and knowing how to use it, and India saw encouraging signs of both in Auckland.
Of course, there was one brief spell when things did not go quite to plan. Arshdeep went searching for his fifth wicket in his final over and Blair Tickner promptly deposited three deliveries into the stands. New Zealand, who had spent much of the innings struggling to get bat on ball, suddenly had a little fun of their own.
That brings us back to Gurnoor.
He could not quite digest the fact that India had allowed the opposition to enjoy those six balls, and decided that New Zealand’s No. 11 needed a reminder of what the rest of the innings had looked like. So he went back to the short ball, sending down a barrage of bouncers at around 140 kph, with Tickner on the receiving end.
A simple yorker could have done the job, but Gurnoor decided to intimidate.
Proper Virat Kohli mentality, I must say.
– Ends
