The Indian team management and national selection committee are unlikely to overlook Dhruv Jurel’s incredible run of form and he will only play as a batter in the forthcoming two-Test series against South Africa, and Rishabh Pant will rightfully regain his big gloves and batting position.
Although Jurel had kept wickets for India in the previous three Test matches—London (Oval), Ahmedabad, and Delhi—while Pant was recovering from an ankle fracture, the vice-captain’s return has made it more difficult to choose the starting eleven for the first Test, which will begin in less than a week in Kolkata.
Jurel has scored 140, 1 & 56, 125, 44 & 6, 132 & 127 not out since the beginning of the home season. Jurel could not have been disregarded with three hundreds, including a Test century, one half-century, and one 40-plus score in the previous eight first-class knocks.
”Jurel is likely to play as a specialist batter. Ideally, there are two slots where he could be fitted in. One was Sai Sudharsan at No. 3 but he has a half-century in his last Test and the team management wants a settled No. 3,” a PTI report quoted a BCCI source as saying.
”The other place is Nitish Kumar Reddy and he can’t be played ahead of Jurel considering that his bowling won’t be required much in these Indian conditions,” he added.
After Reddy was only handed four overs to bowl in Ahmedabad, and that too in the first innings, there were reportedly serious discussions of using Devdutt Padikkal in the Delhi Test match.
He was moved up the order at the Kotla to obtain some batting opportunity, but he was not handed the ball.
Given that India will play with three spinners and two fast bowlers, even the head coach is anticipated to give Jurel a longer run in the middle order, despite Gautam Gambhir’s view about batting until No. 8.
There aren’t many examples of two specialist keepers in the Test playing eleven, despite the fact that Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, Dhoni and Parthiv Patel, and Dhoni and Rishabh Pant have all played in the same white-ball eleven for India at different points in time.
In 1986, Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit played in two Test matches, one in England and one in India, with Pandit playing as a specialist batter.
