Prior to the second Test against England at Edgbaston, Indian captain Shubman Gill invited Punjab Kings left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar to train with the national squad. The 29-year-old, fresh off a successful IPL 2025 season, joined the Indian team as a guest net bowler during a practice session in Birmingham on Saturday.
Following a humiliating defeat in the first Test at Headingley, in which England chased a 371-run goal, the tourists headed to Birmingham for the second Test of the five-match series.
Meanwhile, Harpreet Brar claimed that he is now in the UK, visiting his wife’s family in Swindon, and that he received a text message from Gill just a day before joining the squad for practice.
“My wife’s from Swindon. It’s only about a 1-1.5 hour drive from Birmingham. I was talking to Shubman (Gill), who texted me yesterday. So I thought, let’s go practise in Birmingham. The way he (Arshdeep) is doing it feels fantastic. I am quite proud. It’s a different feeling. “It feels like you’re with your own family,” Brar remarked in the BCCI video.
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The left-arm spinner, dressed in non-official training gear, was seen bowling to Gill, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, and the other hitters present during the practice session. His Punjab Kings teammate, Arshdeep Singh, admitted that seeing familiar faces in a different location is nice. “When you visit a new country, you encounter familiar faces. “So you can have fun together,” he continued.
Jagjit Singh on sharing bowling tips with Arshdeep Singh
Brar was joined by another domestic pacer, Chandigarh’s Jagjit Singh Sandhu. Jagjit, too, has expressed his delight at joining as a guest net bowler. He also mentioned playing age-group cricket alongside Gill, Pant, Arshdeep, and Washington Sundar. He also mentioned giving bowling suggestions to Arshdeep when the left-armer was 16.
“So, Rishabh Pant and I played in the Under-19 Zone for one day.” Shubman Gill’s first under-19 season coincided with my last. I competed with Akash Deep in the Delhi Cup. I competed with Washington Sundar in the under-19 zonal games. He was in the south zone, while I was in the north zone. Arshdeep is my junior. When I was 19, he was sixteen. When he was 16, I used to teach him how to bowl and run up. Even today, he was asking me which ball swing is better and which batter should be bowled at,” Jagjit added.
“When I was younger, I used to follow him a lot. His name is Jagjit, and everyone calls him Punjabi. At the time, he was a senior under-19 player. So I was in the under-16 zone. Whatever he did, I tried to follow him. I’ve learnt a lot from him. And now he replies, “Yes, I remember the old days when you were young and new here,” to which Arshdeep responded.
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