He made his First-class debut in 2024 against Saurashtra.
If a bowler can send the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara packing in the very first First-class appearance of their career, its got to be pretty special. Gurjapneet Singh didn’t just make his Ranji Trophy debut. He stormed onto the big stage with a performance, that everybody took note of. It was in 2024, that a tall left-arm fast bowler walked out to bowl for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. And this way or that, he has managed to stay in the limelight.
Gurjapneet Singh was born in Ludhiana, Punjab. He spent most of his early years in Ambala, a city situated in Haryana. However, the speedster decided to move to Chennai in 2017, to pursue his ambition towards making a cricketing career. Things started initially as he played in the third division of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) for Egmore RC. Little did he know, that he would soon find himself in India’s domestic circuit.
The left-arm pacer was signed by the Dindigul Dragons to play in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) in 2021. In the first season, he could only manage nine wickets in the seven games which he played. He held an economy of 6.54, which was decent for the shortest format. However, he knew that they had work to do. The 2021/22 phase is when he worked closely with bowlers like Yo Mahesh.
However, a back injury became the reason for his absence from the sport for most of 2022. The injury originated out of a lower-back issue, which was some kind of a stress reaction. It took the speedster approximately seven to eight months to recover and get back to bowling full throttle. The injury ruled him out of the entire 2022 TNPL season. It was after this phase, that he signed a contract with the Madurai Panthers for TNPL 2023. He announced his comeback with 15 wickets in the season, the joint second-most after Shahrukh Khan.
Soon after his heroics in the 2023 edition of the TNPL, Gurjapneet was called up to play for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. The first and the most important bit was achieved. The reason for leaving Ambala and coming down to Chennai was surely showing its magic. And now, the left-arm speedster just needed to make it count in the domestic circuit with good performances.
And he did! In his very first game for Tamil Nadu, Gurjapneet dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck. The pacer trapped him LBW in front to send one of India’s best No.3 Test batters packing. The dismissal came in the match between Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra. He ended the innings with figures of 6/22 in his very first match at the domestic level. Moreover, these figures were the best for a fast bowler from Tamil Nadu in a home game since the 2005/06 season. He bagged 13 wickets in four matches in his maiden season.
By the way, Pujara isn’t the only batter Gurjapneet boasts of sending back. The pacer from Tamil Nadu got rid of Virat Kohli too, in one of India’s practice sessions, when he was called as a net bowler. This was before India’s Test match against New Zealand at home in 2024. The Indian stalwart also gave Gurjapneet a few tips, one of which included creating angles from around the wicket to trouble the batters.
Gurjapneet has been making a strong impact in the ongoing Duleep Trophy 2025 Final as well. The South Zone got skittled out for a mere 149. It was time for their bowlers to step up. And out of all their bowlers, Gurjapneet did. By the evening of the second day, he scalped three wickets including the important wicket of centurion Rajat Patidar. To add to that, the pacer is the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with seven wickets.
The left-arm pacer has 17 wickets to his name in the First-class format, and will continue to add a lot more to that tally. These 17 wickets come on the back of a five-wicket haul and a four-wicket haul. To add to that, Gurjapneet also holds nine wickets in five T20s till now.
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Gurjapneet Singh’s pace is not what attracts eyeballs towards him. It never did! His deliveries have always been in the 130-135 kmph range, which is pretty average in terms of pace. But to cover that front, the speedster is extremely accurate and possesses a deceptive back-of-the-hand slower ball. Moreover, the left-arm pacer is more of a hit-the-deck bowler, and relies on the pitch to an extent. Gurjapneet also has the ability to bowl accurate yorkers at will.
Gurjapneet was also a net bowler for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), before they signed him in 2025. The pacer made headlines after the IPL 2025 auction. CSK picked him for a whopping INR 2.20 crores. Teams like the Lucknow Supergiants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT) were also involved in the bidding war, which the five-time champions managed to win.
The height of a fast bowler is not everything, but it can play a huge role in giving bowlers a technical advantage. More the height of a bowler, higher the release point. And because the release point being higher, the batter has to take an extra effort to watch the ball being released, which becomes out of his eyesight. This is one of the most slight, but vital factors which make tall fast bowlers dangerous.
Moreover, tall bowlers have the advantage of getting a lot more purchase from the wickets. Pitches assisting bounce and movement can earn the likes of Gurjapneet Singh a lot more, as compared to others. Though the left-arm pacer does not possess express pace, he can certainly make up for the lost factors with these traits.
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