India are yet to finalise their playing XI for the Perth opener against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. This is expected to happen following their intense two-week training session at the WACA, which begins on Tuesday. However, former Aussie Test skipper Tim Paine sent India head coach Gautam Gambhir a suggestion on Dhruv Jurel’s inclusion.
Paine’s comment came days after he watched Jurel in action during the second unofficial Test match between Australia A and India A on the bouncy Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) track. Jurel, who was sent early to Australia after no game time in India’s last two home series, outperformed his teammates to score a valiant 80 and 68.
Speaking on SEN Tassie, Paine admitted that he was wowed by Jurel’s performance and said that he would be “staggered” if he isn’t picked in the India XI.
“There’s a guy who has wicket kept in a few Test matches for India,” he said. “He averages 63 out of the three Tests he’s played, and his name is Dhruv Jurel. I don’t know if you saw much of the highlights, but after seeing him bat (against Australia A) – even though he’s a wicketkeeper, from what I’ve seen on this tour and from India’s batting in the last couple of months, I’d be staggered if he doesn’t play.
“He scored one of the more polished 80s I’ve seen, and we were all sitting around as staff of Cricket Australia and thought, ‘Wow, this guy can seriously play’.”
Paine also sent out a warning to his compatriots after watching Jurel’s impressive show in Melbourne and felt that he would be one of the players to watch out for this summer.
“Keep an eye out for him this summer. I think he’s going to impress a lot of Australian fans. Even though it’s going to be another step up against the big three (Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood), he looks like he has the game to play Test cricket,” he said.
Will Jurel make a return to the India XI in Australia?
The 23-year-old made a stunning start to his international career earlier this year in the Test series at home against England, scoring 190 runs in four innings. This included a Player of the Match performance in Ranchi, where he scored 90 and 39 not out in India’s win. Not to forget, he impressed world cricket with his wicktkeeping skills as well.
However, with Rishabh Pant back in the format, Jurel missed out on the playing XI in the series against Bangladesh and New Zealand. Amid India’s batting concerns, which was exposed following the whitewash against the Kiwis, Jurel and KL Rahul were sent to Australia for an India A game. And while Rahul was the cynosure of the match, Jurel hogged the limelight with his valiant show, which subsequently sparked discussions on his possible return to the India Xi in the Australia series.