Dhruv Jurel vs Rishabh Pant: fans give a verdict

By
Raktim Nandi
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Dhruv Jurel
Dhruv Jurel, with his gritty 90, helped India reach a fighting position in the third test against England.

Dhruv Jurel’s courageous, gritty 90 in the ongoing third test match against the Bazball-playing England has raised questions amongst fans – should Jurel be provided a position in the team even when Rishabh Pant returns

Dhruv Jurel
Dhruv Jurel, with his gritty 90, helped India reach a fighting position in the third test against England.

DHRUV JUREL ENTERED THE SCENE WHEN INDIA WAS LOOKING FOR A CAPABLE RED BALL WICKETKEEPER BATSMAN

Rishabh Pant had become the numero uno post-Wriddhiman Saha choice for the Indian Test Squad when an unfortunate road account derailed a promising start to what was appearing to become a brilliant career. Since then, the national selectors, led by former medium pacer Ajit Agarkar and the coaching panel, led by all-time great Rahul Dravid, have tried to find a suitable wicketkeeper batsman to replace Pant while he heals.

K.S. Bharat has been trusted to be the replacement, for the most part. However, Bharat’s batting has never been his strength, and he has hardly ever played match-winning or match-saving innings, which his predecessor, Saha, despite similarly unstable batting stats, periodically did. Bharat’s wicketkeeping is hardly something to boast of, either.

Ishan Kishan, hard-hitting batsman and a promising white ball talent, could not transition into a proper red ball player either. That failed transition, coupled with his disciplinary issues and/or unfortunate issues with depression, have ruled him out as a potential replacement.

A return to Saha, still remarkable behind the stumps, too, is improbable, considering his age, lack of playing time for a strong domestic side (he leads the Tripura side now), and the previously mentioned instability as a batsman.

Under these circumstances, young Jurel has entered the scene like a dream coming true. His debut performance was overshadowed by fellow debutant Sarfaraz Khan’s heroics, but in his second match, Jurel has provided a gritty batting performance, mostly holding the fort with tailenders Kuldeep Yadav and debutant Akash Deep Singh, to score a beautiful 90, taking India as close as possible to England’s first innings total.

FANS THINK JUREL SHOULD BE PART OF THE TEAM FOR A LONG TIME

Fans have made their opinions known on social media, and it appears that everyone agrees on one fact: Jurel is here to stay.

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