File image of Dhruv Jurel© BCCI
India's squad for the first Test against Bangladesh was announced on Sunday. The first Test of the two-match series will kick-start from September 19 in Chennai. The squad came with many surprises as wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be returning to Test cricket with this series. Pant faced a horrific road accident in December 2022 and is yet to return to the longest format for India. Apart from this, young pacer Yash Dayal also earned his maiden Test call-up for the series.
Earlier in January, 23-year-old Dhruv Jurel made his Test debut for India against England and impressed everyone with his brilliant batting and wicketkeeping skills. In three matches, Jurel scored 190 run, which included a knock of 90.
Seeing his breakthrough performance, the selection committee named Jurel in the squad for the first Test against Bangladesh. With the likes of Pant and KL Rahul in the squad, Jurel will be the third wicketkeeper.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta stated that there will be no surprises if Team India goes ahead with all the three wicketkeepers in their XI. He also praised Jurel, calling him an important player for the Tests against Australia, which will be played in November.
"Your XI, Yashasvi and Rohit to open. Shubman at No. 3, Virat Kohli at No. 4. KL Rahul at No. 5. Rishabh Pant at No. 6. Then maybe you can play another batter. 8 and 9 you have Jadeja and Ashwin. And then No. 10 and No. 11, you have two seamers. Off late, what I have noticed is that a lot of batters have started bowling in the nets and stuff like that. If you want, you can go in with four bowlers and your part-timers can give you a few overs," Dasgupta told India Today.
"You can think of someone like Sarfaraz for the middle-order. Even for that matter... Dhruv Jurel batted beautifully. Yeah, I won't be surprised if Rishabh, Dhruv and KL all three of them play. The other thing you have to keep in mind is the Australia series. You can also look at other options, but the way Dhruv batted, his technique and composure, I think he is more adept to batting in Australia than some of the other newcomers," he added.