India vs Australia: Tim Paine Backs Rising Star Dhruv Jurel, Expecting A Key Role in Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Tim Paine lauds Dhruv Jurel's recent performances against Australia A, foreseeing his potential to make a mark in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Paine believes Jurel’s batting style and current form make him a strong middle-order option for India's Playing XI.
Former Australian captain Tim Paine expressed admiration for India’s young wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, whose recent performances in the unofficial Test series against Australia A have caught lots of cricket critics’ attention. Paine highlighted Jurel’s consistent batting, noting his two half-centuries—80 and 68—when others struggled, and praised his technical skill, especially his ability to play the ball late and watch it till the end, as ideal for handling Australia’s poisonous pace attack led by the skipper Pat Cummins. Paine described Jurel’s innings as among the best he’s seen against Australia A. He said,
There’s a guy who has wicket kept in a few Test matches for India. 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.
Praising his skills, he added,
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”. 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.
Already having impressed in his debut Test series earlier this year, Jurel holds a batting average of 63.33 and has quickly established himself as a reliable middle-order option. Though currently India’s second wicketkeeper behind Rishabh Pant, his recent form may prompt team management to consider him as a specialist batter for the first Test, especially given Sarfaraz Khan’s recent struggles and low-scoring performance in the last test series against Kiwis.
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