It was exactly the kind of start Gurnoor Brar needed to kickstart his international career. The 26-year-old seamer removed Ibrahim Zadran cheaply
Published: June 13, 2026, 6:33 PM IST
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India’s Gurnoor Brar during a practice session ahead of the India-Afghanistan Test match at the PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh. (Photo credit: IANS)
Right-arm medium pacer Gurnoor Brar made an instant impact by taking a wicket off his first over of his ODI debut for India in the 1st one-day against Afghanistan at the scenic HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. Brar, who was called up to the senior national team on the back of his impressive domestic performances, got the wicket of Afghan opener Azmatullah Omarzai cheaply.
Indian skipper Shubman Gill chose to bowl first after a long delay to the toss due to heavy and continuous rain. The match was originally slated to start from 1:30 PM but owing to the bad weather, the game began 4 hours later from 5:45.
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The match conditions were subsequently revised from 50 overs to a 25-over affair and India’s decision to field first was perhaps the right one, given the fact it will be difficult to bowl under lights.
Gurnoor Brar over the moon on his debut
The breakthrough came on the final ball of the opening over. Brar bowled a nice length delivery that pitched and moved away late from Ibrahim Zadran. The Afghan opener tried to play a drive but was undone by the late movement, getting a thick leading edge that looped up into the air. Shubman Gill tracked the ball well, stepping backward at mid-off to hold onto a comfortable catch.
In the very next ball, Gurnoor Brar bowled another superb delivery and got very close to taking back-to-back wickets. However, his good length delivery to Sediqullah Atal, which struck the pads, pitched outside the leg stump line with India losing a review as well.
Nonetheless, it was exactly the kind of start Gurnoor Brar needed to kickstart his international career. The 26-year-old seamer has a decent record in the domestic circuit, scalping 52 wickets in Ranji Trophy and 12 wickets in 9 List A matches for Punjab.
IND Vs AFG, 1st ODI: Playing XIs
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (WK), Rashid Khan, Mohammad Saleem Safi, AM Ghazanfar, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi.
India: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
