The unstoppable Gurjapneet Singh who had rattled Saurashtra on Sunday, completed the job he had begun, with a fiery morning spell on Monday. The 25-year-old Tamil Nadu pacer took the wickets of Arpit Vasavada and Dharmendra Jadeja to return with figures of 14-5-21-6 as Tamil Nadu began the Ranji season with a thumping innings and 70 run-win over Saurashtra to take seven points. The left-arm seamer's dream debut at SNR College in Coimbatore as Saurashtra were skittled for 94 in their second innings, included a magnificent over he bowled to Cheteshwar Pujara on Sunday. The story can in fact be traced back to a month ago - when he infuriated Virat Kohli by casting him in the nets. Gurjapneet still remembers the cold stare he got from Kohli and his mind telling him ‘do not look at him again’. During India’s preparatory camp ahead of the Test series against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Gurjapneet castled Kohli but didn’t celebrate. But it was enough for Kohli to give him daggers, something the left-arm seamer wasn’t going to forget. Kohli would then respond with a straight drive and with each passing delivery, the TN speedster could feel Kohli's anger melting. At the end of the session, the India star would give the young pacer some sound advice. “After I bowled him, I looked at him and didn’t dare to look at him again,” Gurjapneet recollects to The Indian Express. “He was very, very angry. But I realised, he was angry with himself more than anything. And after a straight drive, he again looked at me and smiled.” But more importantly for the fast medium seamer, Kohli also found time to pass key advice. “He told me, when there is no movement, change the angle and try bowling around the wicket. Because with that angle, even if you manage to get slight movement, it will end up troubling most batsmen,” he recalls. On Sunday, bowling with the new ball where the afternoon sun had sucked out all the juice, it was this around-the-wicket-ploy that led the pacer with a quick-arm action similar to Ashish Nehra's, to run through the Saurashstra top-order in the Ranji Trophy clash here. Having gone wicketless in the first innings on his Ranji Trophy debut, in the second innings, Gurjapneet showed why there is plenty of hope and noise about him even among the IPL scouts. In the fourth over after a 20-minute rain break, Gurjapneet first had Chirag Jani as his maiden wicket with fellow debutant Andre Siddarth taking a diving catch at deep square-leg. But it was his second wicket, one of Cheteshwar Pujara that broke Saurashtra. Bowling from around the wicket, Gurjapneet started the over with a sharp bouncer which Pujara ducked. He then followed it up with good length deliveries before sending a well directed bouncer that almost took Pujara’s glove as he tried to fend it off with both his feet in the air. It pinned the decorated No 3 to the crease and off the last ball, Gurjapneet delivered the sucker punch that Kohli had told him of. He got this one to come in with the angle and the new ball just shaped away, as a squared up Pujara was pinned LBW for zero. “When you bowl to a legendary batsman like him, you have to be accurate from the word go. So the plan was to push him on the backfoot and then send in a good front foot ball that would make him uncomfortable. Having gone wicketless in the first innings, Bala bhai (L Balaji) told me to go out there looking for a wicket as there is a strong chance that I would deviate from the plan. And with the pitch not offering much, around the stumps was the best option and it worked as we also saw (Jaydev) Unadkat do the same in the morning session” Gurjapneet says. Changing tracks isn’t new for Gurjapneet. Born and raised in Ambala, repeatedly failing to make Punjab age-group teams, made him shift base to Chennai on the advice of his coach. At 17, he would pack his bags and move to Chennai to pursue bachelors at Guru Nanak College, an institution with a strong cricket culture, and from there on let the city’s cricketing eco-system take control. “Cricket is all that I knew and in Punjab you don’t get the same facilities. Here you know how to get into the system. But that isn’t the same back home because you are totally in the dark about selection trails, camps and so on. So moving to Chennai was a no-brainer,” says Gurjapneet. Bowling fast, came naturally, because it is what excited him while watching cricket on television. “Across the border, they always had good fast bowlers. I got hooked on to Mohammad Amir straight away and then there were Akhtar, Asif and of course Wasim Akram. And in Punjab, when seniors don’t get to face bowling machines, the younger ones become the machines. And bowling fast was the best option as well,” Gurjapneet says. Being in Guru Nanak College meant, he became a net bowler for India Cements owned Vijay CC which used the premises for its league matches. And in to time, he played in TNCA Third Division, following which a TNPL contract followed before he played for Vijay CC in 2021. But despite the huge cultural shift and the language barrier to overcome, Gurjapneet has had it smooth. “When cricket is priority, these things won’t matter at all. Of course, there is a lot of cultural difference, but this is also part of our nation. The diversity is what makes us special. And I’m just one of them now. Of course, they still don’t let me play Punjabi music, but I have become used to Vijay and Anirudh songs,” says Gurjapneet who loves to hear Diljit Dosanjh and late Sidhu Moose Wala songs. At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in TNCA’s roll of honour, the names of AG Ram Singh, AG Kripal Singh, AG Milkha Singh, AG Satwender Singh, Arjan Kripal Singh have a special place. Decades later with Tamil Nadu’s fast bowling pool shrinking, Gurjapneet has arrived at the best possible time, ready to take the Sikh legacy forward. Brief scores: Saurashtra 203 & 94 (Gurjapneet Singh 6/21) lost to Tamil Nadu 367 (N Jagadeesan 100, Sai Sudharsan 82, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 49, Jaydev Unadkat 6/61) by innings & 70 runs. Points: Tamil Nadu 7, Saurashtra 0.
