Despite speculation over whether Jurel would retain his spot following Pant’s return from a fractured right foot, his consistency with the bat has ensured his place in the side.
Photo: ANI
India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate on Wednesday confirmed that wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel will feature in the playing XI alongside Rishabh Pant for the opening Test against South Africa, starting Friday at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Jurel, who scored his maiden Test century during India’s 2-0 series sweep over the West Indies, has maintained his superb form with unbeaten knocks of 132 and 127 for India A in the recent red-ball games against South Africa A at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
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Despite speculation over whether Jurel would retain his spot following Pant’s return from a fractured right foot, his consistency with the bat has ensured his place in the side.
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The only previous occasion when the two played together was during the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth.
“I don’t think you can leave him out for this Test, is the short answer. But obviously, you can only pick eleven as well, so someone else will have to miss out. I think we’ve got a pretty good idea of the combination. Given the way Dhruv has performed over the last six months — scoring two hundreds in Bengaluru last week — he’s certain to play this week,” ten Doeschate said.
He further added: “Again, like what I mentioned about Washi (Washington Sundar), Axar (Patel), and Jadu (Ravindra Jadeja) — for me, you’ve actually got three batters there, which gives us a lot of flexibility. But I would be very surprised if you don’t see Dhruv and Rishabh playing in this Test.”
The assistant coach also hinted that seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is likely to miss the first Test against the reigning World Test Championship winners.
“Strategy comes first. The primary thing is to set out a plan to win the game, and then, if possible, accommodate player development. Our position hasn’t changed on Nitish. He didn’t get much game time in Australia, but given the importance of this series and the conditions we expect, he might miss out in this Test,” ten Doeschate said.
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