Rishabh Pant or Dhruv Jurel? Anil Kumble gives a shocking answer

Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant was primarily India’s first wicketkeeper choice in the red ball format. However, despite being in brilliant form, Pant suffered an unfortunate deadly accident in December 2022 and has been out of the cricketing action since then. The Indian management have tried to fit in many players such as Ishan Kishan, KS Bharat, and now Dhruv Jurel in Pant’s place.

Ishan didn’t show much interest in playing the Test on the other hand, Bharat has been a flop so far in his Test career. However, Jurel showed a lot of promise and was adjudged the Player of the Match in the fourth IND vs ENG Test match.

KL Rahul has also been a wicket-keeping option for India but he made a lot of fumbles in South Africa and later got injured after the first Test against England.

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Rishabh Pant or Dhruv Jurel: Who gets a place in the side?

After Dhruv Jurel won the Player of the Match award for his 90 and 39* run knocks in Ranchi, fans started to compare him with veteran Indian wicket-keeper and captain MS Dhoni. India will be playing their next Test series in September this year and Rishabh Pant is expected to make a comeback in the series.

However, he may get tough competition from Dhruv Jurel, though, the young wicket-keeper has just played two Test matches, and Pant has decent experience of playing international cricket.

Former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble was asked whether Dhruv Jurel has all the qualities to reach where MS Dhoni reached. Kumble admitted that Jurel has all the credentials and ability to reach MSD but also highlighted the scenario of Rishabh Pant.

Anil Kumble said, “Oh yes, there’s Rishabh Pant. We don’t know of course when he comes, comes back whenever that happens. Sooner hopefully for Rishabh. But otherwise, yes, he certainly has all the credentials to get to where MS (Dhoni) reached in his career. But he’s shown that he’s not just shown the temperament of his technique to defense but even when he’s attacking. Even in that first innings he was very assured he went after and then hit those big sixes when he was batting with the tail and hats off even behind the stumps.”

Rishabh Pant is mainly known for his brilliant 84* run knock during India’s famous Gabba win against Australia in 2021. Pant is an attacking batsman and has the quality to attack by coming in the middle order. On the other hand, Dhruv Jurel played important knocks in both the first and the second innings of the Ranchi Test match, which helped India win the game.

Rishabh Pant’s selection in the side will also depend on the way he performs in domestic cricket and IPL. Pant has not played a single competitive match in the last year and the selectors would like to Test his match form. On the other hand, if Pant performs well in domestic cricket and marks a return to the side, the Indian management will be in a lot of dilemma when they sit together to pick the playing XI in Tests.

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