Why has Team India called a six-feet-five-inch tall pacer to bowl in nets ahead of first Test vs Bangladesh in Chennai?

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The Indian cricket team is sweating out in the nets ahead of their first Test against Bangladesh from September 19 in Chennai. A bunch of uncapped bowlers have also been called to assist Rohit Sharma's men in their high-intensity training.

Punjab pacer Gurnoor Brar is one of them. The 24-year-old has featured in just five first-class matches till date, and managed to pick just seven wickets in them. However, the right-arm fast bowler is still providing crucial help to the star India batters.

India will be facing Bangladesh pacer Nahid Rana for the first time, and the summoning of Gurnoor Brar has a direct connection with him. Rana, who is six-feet-five-inches tall, played a key role in Bangladesh's win against Pakistan in the second Test recently. He registered figures of 4/44 as Bangladesh won the series 2-0. The 21-year-old also possesses the ability to bowl 150 km/h deliveries consistently.

Gurnoor Brar is 6ft 4.5 inches tall, and his towering height is giving the India batting unit consisting of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and others a perfect opportunity to gear up for the Nahid Rana challenge. The bounce such tall bowlers can generate can be lethal and surprising for batters. Also, getting used to such a high release point is important ahead of the crucial World Test Championship (WTC) matches.

India's new bowling coach Morne Morkel is himself six-feet-five-inch tall, and created a lot of problems for the batters in his playing days in which he picked 309 Test wickets in 86 Test matches. Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir rates him as one of the toughest bowlers he faced in his career.

The South African great was seen giving Gurnoor Brar some tips on how to bowl to the Team India batters and what kind of specific net sessions they were looking at in the camp.

With quality pacers like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the squad, it is understood that India is unlikely to play on rank turners and the Chepauk strip in Chennai could be one where pace bowlers and spinners both get equal assistance. Bangladesh pace sensation Nahid Rana is also set to benefit in this scenario.

Further, India batters will be playing their first Test match since March. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja did not play in the Duleep 2024 first-round matches either, and therefore getting the Nahid Rana simulation became even more important.