Gurnoor Brar Fires 3 for 27 in 148 kph ODI Debut

gurnoor brar made his ODI debut against Afghanistan in Dharamsala and left with 3 for 27 in 4.5 overs. He also clocked 148 kph on a day that turned a long rebuild into an international arrival.

Brar’s pace in Dharamsala

Brar’s debut ended with a return few pacers manage at any level: three wickets, 27 runs, and 4.5 overs of control against Afghanistan. The numbers were the sharpest proof that his pace had moved beyond the raw range he carried earlier in his development.

Before this outing, he had been a bowler whose rise depended on steady work as much as talent. The speed gun reading of 148 kph put his debut in a different bracket from the 132 kph to 135 kph range Varinder Singh said he saw when Brar first arrived at Launching Pad Cricket Academy during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Ravi Verma at APJ School

That progression started earlier. Ravi Verma first met Brar in 2012 at APJ School in Kharar, when the fast bowler was still a teenager who, in Verma’s words, liked to spend time with friends and skip practice.

Verma said he kept calling Brar’s mother to make sure he got to training, then chose a softer route when the youngster was drifting. “Instead of getting angry, I built a friendly bond with him, kept him like a friend. Like, keep him in his comfort zone so he doesn’t quit, but make him work hard at the same time.”

Varinder Singh’s lockdown rebuild

Singh took over a different phase of the same project. “He came to me right in the middle of the lockdown,” he said, and the work focused on pace, power, and body strength. He added monthly computer-based testing, plyometrics and explosive power training, along with sessions built around Brar’s muscles and load-up.

Singh said Brar’s discipline became the final separator. “Whatever time I called him, he would arrive at the academy 15 minutes early. He has been eating his food with complete discipline for a long time. That is exactly why he is bowling at 148kph now.”

From injury setback to debut

The route to Dharamsala was not smooth. Brar had a disc bulge that escalated into a stress fracture and wiped out an entire crucial year of development, even after he had started making waves at the district level and in the Sher-e-Punjab T20 Cup.

His ODI debut pulled all of that into one spell. The wicket return and the speed reading showed that the recovery was not just about getting him back on the field; it had restored him as a strike bowler who can carry pace into international cricket.