Even though the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is around a fortnight away, India and Australia, both teams have started their preparation for the five-match Test series. While the hosts are auditioning for an opener, India have sent KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel to Australia early to feature in the unofficial Test match for India A.
The move has reaped success to some extent as Rahul failed to make an impact while Jurel shined batting at number six. Rohit Sharma is unlikely for the first Test in Perth due to personal reasons. For the same reason, Rahul opened the innings for India A auditioning for the top slot only to muster just four runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the opening day of the second unofficial Test.
The other opener Abhimanyu Easwaran who is also a contender to replace Rohit in the first Test also bagged a duck as India A lost four wickets for just 11 runs. This is when Dhruv Jurel walked out to bat and showed extreme resilience in testing conditions. He first stitched a 54-run stand with Devdutt Padikkal and then shepherded the lower order nicely to help India A post 161 runs on the board before getting skittled.
In the process, Jurel played 186 deliveries and scored 80 runs with six fours and two sixes to his name. He scored around half of the team's runs putting up a lone fight and that must have really impressed the management. This was Jurel's first innings in Australia with the bat and the youngster was impressive with his technique in testing conditions.
With Rahul auditioning for the opener's slot and Sarfaraz Khan not doing much in the second and third Tests against New Zealand, there is every possibility of Jurel making it to India's playing XI for the Perth Test after this performance. As far as his Test career is concerned, he played three Test matches earlier this year against England and notched up 190 runs at an average of 63.33 with a half-century to his credit.
However, it remains to be seen if India keeps faith in Sarfaraz for the series opener in Australia or the team goes ahead with Jurel looking at his recent form.
