Former Sri Lanka pacer Farveez Maharoof believes Gurnoor Brar could provide India with a much-needed edge in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. Ahead of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Galle, Maharoof backed the young Punjab speedster to make his Test debut later this week. The Shubman Gill-led side has odds stacked against them, and the side must win seven of their remaining nine Tests to have any chance of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The visitors have been plagued by injuries, with Bumrah, Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana all ruled out of the series. Washington Sundar is also expected to play no part in the two-Test contest.
Mohammed Siraj is expected to spearhead India’s fast-bowling unit, but attention has increasingly turned towards Brar after his solid performance in the three-day warm-up match against SLC XI. The 26-year-old is in the running to play ahead of Prasidh Krishna.
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“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 in a media interaction arranged by the Sony Sports Network.
“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,” he added.
Brar recently made his ODI debut against Afghanistan and has claimed 11 wickets from six appearances in the format. He is also well equipped with the conditions in Galle as featured in India A’s tour to Sri Lanka last month, picking up a 10-wicket haul.
‘Reverse swing’
However, Maharoof also believes that the Indian camp would miss Bumrah dearly, as he can exploit reverse swing and has a knack for taking the pitch out of the equation.
The former Sri Lanka pacer added that Siraj is a solid option with the ball, but he is nowhere close, when it comes to Bumrah’s ability.
“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,” said Maharoof.
“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,” he added.