Harpreet Brar, which impressed the rotation of the left shoulder for the King of Pandjab, Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, was seen bowling at Indian training in Birmingham before the second test against England in Edgbaston, starting on 2 July. The 29-year-old was seen as a visiting network pitch, and was now revealed that he joined the team on the Indian Shipper and colleague, Shabman Gill.
The buzz began on 28 June when Brar was seen during the network for Indian doughs. Dressed in unofficial training equipment, it quickly turned out that it was not part of the team, but was promoted for practice purposes. This caused speculation about Indian spin plans for the upcoming test – especially after the heavy defeat of the team in Headingley.
The cricket control council in India (BCCI) later shared a video of Brara at a meeting where he mentioned that he was in Swindon (his wife’s hometown) when he received a message from Captain India to join the team next day.
“My wife comes from Swindon. It’s very close to Birmingham, it’s 1-1.5 hours drive. I spoke to SHUBMAN (GILL), sent me yesterday. So I thought let’s go and practice there (Birmingham),” Brar said in BCCI.
In addition to Brara, young Chandigarh Pacer Jagjit Singh Sandhu also joined India Nets as a guest pitch, which further suggests the intention of the team to intensify their training before the decisive test.
The Indian bowling attack is under control of Edgbaston. While Jasprit Bumrah raised five goals in the first shifts in Leeds, his impact disappeared in the second, when England was chased by a massive 371-running goal with relative ease. The rest of the attack fought for consistency, while the Indian lone spinner, Ravindra Jadeja, managed only one goal through both shifts.
This stunning bowling performance led to speculation about potential changes in India for the second test – especially whether they could bring the Yadav Kuldeep to support their rotation options. The question of the availability of Bumhrah contributes to the uncertainty. As part of his work load and injury, the Indian captain is expected to skip one or two matches in a series of five tests and Edgbaston can be one of them.
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Published:
Debodinna Chakracorty
Published on:
29. June 2025
