Playing only his tenth first-class game, Gurjapneet Singh cut through Uttarakhand's line-up and showed the way for an inexperienced, new-look Tamil Nadu seam attack.
On a red-soil Chepauk surface, Gurjapneet subdued last season's semi-finalists Uttarakhand with a delightful cocktail of swing, bounce, and variation in angles. His 4 for 34, three of which came in his opening burst, helped TN bundle Uttarakhand out for 134 and raised his team's hopes of earning maximum points after they had started their 2026-27 Ranji campaign on a shaky note against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Gurjapneet could've well had a fifth wicket had B Indrajith not dropped a low catch in the slip cordon.
Gurjapneet was unavailable to TN for the first round because he was on India A duty in Puducherry. He also missed TN's training session on the eve of the second-round match against Uttarakhand due to a family wedding, but hit the ground running on Sunday.
He took the new ball and exploited the morning moisture after cloudburst-like rain had hit Chennai overnight. After slanting a few balls into opener Aarav Mahajan, Gurjapneet got one to slant away and kiss the outside edge in the fifth over. Four overs later, Gurjapneet rifled a sharp inswinger into Dega Nischal's pads and pinned him lbw.
After maintaining excellent control from around the wicket, Gurjapneet switched to over the wicket and proved that he could be just as effective. He pitched one on off against Uttarakhand captain Kunal Chandela and got it to deck away, brushing the outside edge. Soon after, he switched to around the wicket and threatened the outside edge of India Under-19s' star Lakshya Raichandani.
"It [angles] is just instinct," Gurjapneet said after stumps at Chepauk on Sunday. "I watch his feet movement and how he [the batter] is reacting...One ball I bowl from over the stumps and I will [later] come around the stumps. Maybe his conscious mind is ready to play from that angle and the results were positive [today]."
While Gurjapneet kept the new ball on a good length or pitched it up further, he dipped into his defensive skills with the older ball, pounding away on a hard length. When he bowled much shorter, he smacked Avneesh Sudha, who had top-scored for Uttarakhand with 54, on the ribs, leaving the batter needing on-field treatment.
Gurjapneet has had injury issues in the past, but on Sunday he bowled a fairly long first spell - 7-3-19-3 - and didn't let his intensity drop in his subsequent spells.
"Coming from [India A] white-ball matches to red-ball cricket [in the Ranji Trophy], I was practicising a lot with both balls," Gurjapneet said. "Coming into the Ranji, the workload is high and you have to keep maintaining that. It [my body] should not be under-prepared or like overcooked or something. I'm just trying to keep that energy same because I know [in] red-ball cricket, it's difficult to bowl long spells. I'm trying to keep my body ready for all spells and deliver that."
Gurjapneet's form and fitness is a boost to a TN attack, which has been depleted by the departure of their previous seam-attack leader Sandeep Warrier to Chhattisgarh. Gurjapneet's current colleagues at TN - P Saravana Kumar, R Sonu Yadav, Deepesh Devendran and the uncapped A Esakkimuthu - are all inexperienced in red-ball cricket.
Gurjapneet himself is only nine first-class games old - and is currently in action in his tenth - but he has had greater exposure, including multiple stints as a net bowler for India and playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL. He's also part of the BCCI's targetted pool of fast bowlers.
"You will get the confidence to bowl good batsmen like Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and all other players," Gurjapneet said. "So, when you bowl to them and when you come to the Ranji Trophy, you will get a different kind of confidence in your body. I also had two-three moments with Morne Morkel [India bowling coach] and spoke to him about my lengths and all. He just said you have good skills and to keep focusing on your length and keep changing angles."
Gurjapneet has already built up a decent body of work in red-ball cricket. On first-class debut in October 2024, he bested Cheteshwar Pujara in Coimbatore and emerged on the radar of the BCCI's Centre of Excellence. Then in the Duleep Trophy in 2025, he came away as the highest wicket-taker among seamers. Also in 2025, he bagged a hat-trick for TN against Nagaland in Bengaluru.
Gurjapneet has more lofty ambitions. "There is no satisfaction, I will say, unless I play for India," he said. "So, that is the main job to be done. That box is still empty."
In isolation on Sunday, he ticked off a number of boxes for TN and displayed the traits of an attack leader.