Gurnoor Brar says his path in cricket has been shaped by players who saw him early and coaches who kept pulling him back to basics. He used to bowl to Shubman Gill in their Under-19 days, and Gill later helped him move into the district team after watching him bowl during a couple of Katoch Shield matches.
“I used to bowl to him since our Under-19 days,” Brar said of Gill. “I remember when he was playing for India Under-19, he played a couple of Katoch Shield matches. He saw me bowling and helped me get into the district team.” For a young bowler trying to turn promise into a place in the game, that kind of early backing mattered more than any public praise.
Brar says Ashish Nehra has been just as important, but in a different way. Nehra has spoken to him about injuries and the mistakes from his own career, including the cost of not taking care of his body and working too much. “He says working hard is important, but you must listen to your body,” Brar said. “He keeps telling me to manage my workload and allow enough time for recovery.”
That advice lands at a time when pace bowlers are pushed hard and often judged by how much they can give, not how long they can last. Nehra’s message goes against that instinct. It is not about cutting effort; it is about making effort sustainable, especially for a bowler still building his body and rhythm at higher levels.
Rabada has offered a different kind of lesson. Brar says the South Africa fast bowler watches him closely after finishing his own spells. “Kagiso Rabada watches my bowling closely,” he said. “Once he finishes his spells, he stands and watches me bowl. He tells me to keep it simple and hit the good length with good pace.” It is a small scene, but it says a lot about how knowledge moves in cricket: not always in meetings or team talks, but in the quiet moments between overs.
Brar’s story is one of those cricket careers built in layers. Gill gave him an opening when he was still trying to get seen. Nehra gave him a warning born from experience. Rabada gave him a practical template he can carry into his next spell. The result is a young bowler with three very different voices in his ear, each pointing toward the same thing: stay grounded, stay fit and keep it simple.
What Brar does next will depend less on praise than on whether he can hold onto that discipline. The talent got him noticed. The advice may decide how far he goes.
