Gurjapneet Singh didn’t have a fifth wicket to show. He could have easily ended up with one if Baba Indrajith had managed to hold on to a low catch that slipped out of his hands after he hit the ground in the cordon. But on an overcast day at Chepauk, where play began an hour late because of a wet outfield thanks to the heavy overnight rains, the left-armer showed why he is amongst the targeted pool of pacers.Since making his first-class debut in October 2024, Gurjapneet may have featured in only seven red-ball fixtures for Tamil Nadu and two Duleep Trophy matches for South Zone. But his continued presence in India A set-up, fitness permitting, is enough evidence of his potential. In successive years, he has been part of India A teams when Australia A visited. There have been a couple of sessions with the Indian senior side as a net bowler, too. All is down to what Gurjapneet offers, which he showed throughout the day to good effect against Uttarakhand on Sunday.When TN won the toss and chose to bowl first on a red soil pitch that looked dry – there was turn from the first hour of play – they had to ensure their bowlers delivered the job. While there was bounce to work with, the overnight rains had left plenty of moisture on the pitch. With D Deepesh rested, Gurjapneet returned and made an instant impact with a four-fer. Thanks to his 4/34 and captain R Sai Kishore’s 4/40, the hosts bundled out Uttarakhand to 134 and were 85/2 at stumps.With TN moving on from Sandeep Warrier, there were doubts if Gurjapneet could shoulder the responsibility, particularly given his stop-start career due to injuries. There have been concerns in TN ranks that his body may not take the load of long format cricket. But so thin are their pace bowling resources, they have put faith in him. But when he is fit and firing, he can run through sides and make the ball talk. On his debut, he had Cheteshwar Pujara in all sorts of trouble with his angles. Tamil Nadu’s Gurjapneet Singh bowls on the first day of a Ranji Trophy cricket match between Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand in Chennai. (PTI Photo)Uttarakhand may not possess star names, but it has a compact batting line-up. But when Gurjapneet starts using the angles and makes the ball move, then he can be a handful. Witnessing the new ball move, he immediately went around the stumps to Aarav Mahajan, delivered one that angled in and shaped away at the last fraction of second, taking the edge and into the hands of the keeper. Dega Nischal then fell to full delivery, trapped in front, troubled by the outward movement. He could have continued with the same angle, but with Kunal Chandela being extra cautious with that line, he went back over the wicket and made him drive at one that went with the angle, only to be caught by Indrajith.While he had been playing white-ball fixtures for India A over the past week, he seamlessly hit the rhythm with the red-ball here. “I’ve been playing matches. So whether coming from white ball to a red ball, I feel the switch is normal. I practised a lot with both balls. Coming in Ranji Trophy, you know workload is high, so I have to keep maintaining that workload,” Gurjapneet said.With an in-swinger part of his armoury, his ability to take the ball away from the right-hander from around the stumps makes him lethal. And throw in the delivery that just holds its line, he isn’t short in terms of variety. But more importantly, he seems to understand better how to use the angles. “I’m using the angles according to the wicket and batsman. So, I understand the batsman how they are reacting, and I bowl accordingly. It’s just instinct, it comes to me. I feel like ‘no, next ball I’ll come over the stumps’. I look at batsmen’s foot movements or how he is reacting and when I watch it, I think maybe there is one ball I can bowl over the stumps or around the stumps. Maybe in their conscious mind they are ready to play me from an angle, so I try to change that,” the 27-year-old seamer said.Story continues below this adWhile he hasn’t had enough red-ball game time to evolve his bowling, Gurjapneet, says through the course of the off-season he has cut down on a few aspects to make him more consistent in long format. “I just feel the key in red ball is you have to be consistent. So I’m trying to keep it in the right areas and make sure the batsman faces the ball on the front foot. I shouldn’t be bowling to his comfort zone by making him play on the back foot. When I was with India (Morne Morkel) told me just keep focusing on your length and keep changing angles. That’s what I’m trying. How much ever you practice in the nets, playing a match is always a different scenario. You’ll get different challenges every day and I’ll learn a lot,” he said.Brief scores: Uttarakhand 134 (Avneesh Sudha 54; Gurjapneet Singh 4/34, R Sai Kishore 4/40) vs Tamil Nadu 85/2.