Dhruv Jurel’s brilliant century against South Africa A strengthens his case to retain a place in India’s Test XI for upcoming series.
Ahead of India’s two-match Test series against South Africa, the toss-up for the wicket-keeper batter spot would be between Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel. The management would most likely pick Pant in the playing eleven. The southpaw has recovered from his foot injury, having played both unofficial Tests for India A against the visiting South Africa A side.
However, Jurel’s recent form has been hard to ignore. With scores of 124, 44, and unbeaten six runs against West Indies, he displayed incredible consistency and growing maturity as a batter. Despite Pant’s comeback to the red-ball side, Jurel can now make a strong case to be considered as a specialist batter.
The scenario might soon become a reality if the Shubman Gill-led side decides to strengthen their middle order with a specialist number 6 batter. In that case, they would need to leave out an all-rounder. The struggle could well be between Jurel and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
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Dhruv Jurel makes a case for selection as specialist batter in South Africa series
On the opening day of the second unofficial Test in Bengaluru, India A were in deep trouble at 59-4. At the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, the fired-up South Africa A attack went through the home side’s top order.
India A opener Abhimanyu Easwaran perished straight away in the second over – trapped in front of the stumps. Subsequently, left-arm seamer Tiaan Van Vuuren’s delivery held its line to go in the angle and found KL Rahul’s edge, to be pouched behind the stumps. In the next over, Sai Sudharsan paid the price for his old mistake. The southpaw once again tried to play the full delivery from off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen on the backfoot and was trapped in front.
Pant tried his usual counter-attack, but his innings lasted only 20 deliveries before being caught at mid-on. Almost every frontline batter struggled heading into India’s opening Kolkata Test next week against the Rainbow Nation. But Jurel was an exception. When he recorded 124 against West Indies in Pant’s absence, there were calls to play him as a specialist batter. He made those calls grow louder with his batting against SA A.
The Uttar Pradesh batter remained unbeaten at 132 runs, riding on 12 boundaries and four sixes. From 126/7, he contributed immensely to add 129 runs for the last three wickets as India A finished with 255 runs on the scoreboard at stumps.
The 24-year-old adapted magnificently during his innings. He was quick to adjust his backfoot and front foot game against the moving ball to cut and drive the SA A bowlers. The secret of his knock was to play the ball late and close to his body.
With a big forward stride, Jurel covered the seamers’ line to avoid any late movement. Meanwhile, he was equally aware of putting away the bad balls into the boundary rope.
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Dhruv Jurel gives hard fight to Devdutt Padikkal and Nitish Reddy
In Pant’s absence during India’s previous Test against West Indies in Delhi, Jurel batted at number five. They had three all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy – in the eleven. Devdutt Padikkal and Narayan Jagadeesan warmed the bench in that clash.
With the return of Pant, the BCCI selection committee left out Jagadeesan as the only change in the batting department of the squad for the series against the Protea side. Jurel’s fabulous recent form could now push Reddy out of the eleven. He kept wickets in England when Pant was subbed out during the Lord’s and Manchester Test after sustaining finger and toe injuries.
Jurel also featured against Australia A for the unofficial Tests, where he recorded 197 runs in three innings. This is an indication of how the batter has built his skill in the middle order whenever he got chances.
His competitor for the middle order berth in the national side would be Padikkal, who managed only five against South Africa A during the second unofficial Test. The latter might have now slipped behind in the race for a recall after his most recent appearance being in Perth against Australia last November.
Going with Jurel as the specialist batter would also provide Gill with five proper bowling options of Jadeja, Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and two pacers. Anyway, India’s captain doesn’t use Reddy a lot with the ball. During the Delhi Test, India bowled over 200 overs across the two innings, but the Andhra Pradesh all-rounder didn’t roll his arm even once.
South Africa are coming with confidence after drawing the two-match Test series 1-1 in Pakistan. They have two world-class pacers, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, in the squad. Both Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer have massive experience in first-class cricket.
Moreover, the ball is expected to swing and seam at the Eden Gardens for the opening clash. In that case, it would be smart for India’s management to slot a specialist batter at number six.
The opening fixture of the two-match series will begin on November 14 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Later, the focus will shift to the second encounter from November 22 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
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