Former Indian national cricket team batsman and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta has heaped praise on 23-year-old Dhruv Jurel ahead of the IND vs BAN two-match Test series.
Dhruv Jurel, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, made his Test debut on 15 February 2024, against the England National Cricket Team in Rajkot.
In his first Test appearance, the wicket-keeper batsman scored 46 runs in the only innings he got a chance in. However, his best performance came in the Ranchi Test, where he scored a sensational 90 runs in the first innings to help India bounce back and then scored an unbeaten 39 runs in the next innings.
In total, Dhruv Jurel has scored 190 runs for India in 3 Test matches. He has scored his runs at an average of 63.33. Behind the stumps, he has taken 5 catches and inflicted 2 stumpings.
Jurel has been picked in India’s squad for the first Test match against Bangladesh, and will be up against Rishabh Pant for a spot in the starting XI. The team management has reportedly decided to make Pant the first-choice keeper in the Test match, keeping in mind his experience and past exploits.
Also Read: IND vs BAN: KL Rahul, Axar Patel ignored as Brad Hogg picks India XI for first Test
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel and KL Rahul play all three – Deep Dasgupta
In a recent interaction with India Today, Deep Dasgupta spoke about the Test series between India and Bangladesh. He picked India’s playing XI and picked Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill as the top 3 and picked Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the next three batsmen while he left the number 7 spot open for one batsman.
Deep Dasgupta also picked Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as two all-rounders and kept the last two spots open for fast bowlers.
“Your XI, Yashasvi and Rohit to open. Shubman at No. 3, Virat Kohli at No. 4. KL Rahul at No. 5. Rishabh Pant at No. 6. Then maybe you can play one other batsman. At No. 8 and No. 9 you have Jadeja and Ashwin. And then at No. 10 and No. 11, you have two bowlers. Of late, what I have noticed is that a lot of batsmen have started bowling in the nets and things like that. If you want, you can go in with four bowlers and your part-timers can give you a few overs,” Dasgupta said.
Deep Dasgupta added that the likes of Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel could be slotted into the middle order, with the latter being more competent to play in Australian conditions.
“You can think of someone like Sarfaraz for the middle order. Even in that regard… Dhruv Jurel batted beautifully. Yes, I won’t be surprised if Rishabh, Dhruv and KL play all three. The other thing you have to look at is the Australia series. You can consider other options as well, but the way Dhruv batted, his technique and composure, I think he is more suited to bat in Australia than some of the other newcomers.
“That’s a decision management has to make, whether to go in with 7 batters or 6 batters,” he added.
