Dhruv Jurel has risen through the ranks in Indian cricket over the last year. From impressive performances in the IPL to a solid start to his red-ball career, Jurel has quickly been one of the future wicketkeepers to look at.
The UP batter recently scored a crucial 93 from 121 balls for the Rest of India in the Irani Cup fixture against Mumbai. The 23-year-old brilliantly played second fiddle to centurion Abhimanyu Easwaran and helped his team amass 416 in reply to Mumbai's first-innings score of 537. Jurel was also chosen in India's squad for the Bangladesh Test series but could not get a game. His continuous presence in the Indian Test team now raises the question of whether he has shut the doors for Ishan Kishan to return to the Test fold-up.
Dhruv Jurel impressed in his short stint in Test career
To start, Jurel has three Test matches in his career, all of which came against England earlier in the year. The middle-order batter made 190 runs in those three games, including crucial scores of 46, 90 and 39 in the third and fourth Test matches.
He showed nerves of steel in the run-chase of 192 in the fourth Test in Ranchi when the hosts were in a spot of bother of being 120/5. Jurel struck 39 and remained unbeaten along with Shubman Gill to take India over the line. He was adjudged the Player of the Match in that game as he made 90 in the first innings.
Ishan Kishan played two Test matches during India's tour of the West Indies last year and had 78 runs in those two games. But Kishan has seemingly fallen behind the pecking order, especially after his break ahead of the South Africa Tests. He was picked for the two-match series against the Proteas in late December and early January but had withdrawn from the tour after not getting a match in the preceding T20I series.
Kishan is no more a BCCI centrally contracted player after he and Shreyas Iyer "were not considered for the annual contracts" the Indian Board had announced earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel now hold a central contract as he met with the BCCI criteria of playing "a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is."
Jurel seems second specialist option after Rishabh Pant
Meanwhile, Jurel now seems to be India's second specialist wicketkeeper option after Rishabh Pant in the Indian team for the time being. The testament to this is BCCI's decision to pick him for the Bangladesh Tests after his success against England. While KL Rahul can also keep wickets, Pant and Jurel are the specialist options in the team.
When BCCI announces India's squad for the New Zealand series, Jurel should get a place in the team yet again and he might be in consideration for the Border-Gavaskar series too.
