India are set to field two wicketkeeper-batters -- Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel -- in the playing XI for the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata, according to reports.
Pant, returning from an ankle fracture, will reclaim the gloves and his familiar middle-order slot, while Jurel’s consistent run with the bat has earned him a place purely as a specialist batter for the two-Test series.
During Pant’s injury layoff, Jurel had donned the big gloves in India’s last three Tests — at The Oval, Ahmedabad, and Delhi — and made a strong case for himself with a string of impressive scores.
Since the start of the home season, the 23-year-old Jurel has notched up 140, 1 & 56, 125, 44 & 6, 132 & 127 not out -- a sequence that includes three centuries, a fifty, and another 40-plus knock in his last eight first-class innings. His purple patch has made him difficult to overlook.
'Jurel is likely to play as a specialist batter,' a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
'Ideally, there are two slots where he could be fitted in. One was Sai Sudharsan at No. 3, but the team wants to keep that position settled after his recent half-century. The other is Nitish Kumar Reddy, but his bowling won’t be needed much in these Indian conditions.'
In the previous series against the West Indies, the selectors had reportedly considered Devdutt Padikkal for the Delhi Test, after Nitish Reddy bowled just four overs in Ahmedabad and was barely used at Kotla, where he was promoted up the order to get some batting time.
With head coach Gautam Gambhir keen to deepen the batting line-up till No.8, Jurel is expected to get an extended run in the middle order. India are likely to play three spinners and two pacers in the opening Test.
The last time two specialist keepers played together in a Test was in 1986, when Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit featured in the same XI, with Pandit playing as a batter.
The first Test between India and South Africa, will commence on November 14.
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