Dhruv Jurel may get direct entry in India XI for first Test vs Australia

Dhruv Jurel capped off a very impressive outing for India A in the four-day unofficial tour game against Australia. He took full advantage of his selection for the second match of the two-match series to get some valuable insights about the Australian conditions before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
In the match at the MCG in Melbourne, where most of the India A batters struggled to cope with the pace and bounce, Dhruv Jurel scored another half-century in the second innings, backing up his innings-saving 80 in the first innings. Jurel hit a counter-attacking 68 in India A’s second innings to make sure his bowlers have a score to defend in Melbourne.
Coming in for Ishan Kishan, who was the wicketkeeper for the first of the match in Mackay, Jurel is attempting to make a case for himself as a batting option for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. While Jurel is part of the squad for the marquee series, he will be looking to break into the first team proper with the Perth Test on the horizon.
With question marks over the number six position in the Indian batting lineup, with no player having locked down the position as their own, Jurel has well and truly thrown his hat into the ring to be a starter at the Optus Stadium in Perth. KL Rahul has looked shaky in recent Test matches, while incumbent Sarfaraz Khan has no experience in overseas conditions and does have question marks regarding his play against express pace.
In Melbourne, Jurel came in in the first innings with the score at 11-4, and played a rebuilding innings with Devdutt Paddikal and the tail to drag India to a competitive 161.
Jurel was also very good with the gloves, in particular taking a remarkable catch of Jimmy Peirson off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna.
In the second innings, Jurel once again came in with India A in trouble, at 44-4 and still in a deficit. Jurel saw India into day three, where he started to attack Australia’s bowling alongside Nitish Kumar Reddy and Tanush Kotian, with a cameo by Krishna taking India to a very solid 229 on a tricky MCG wicket.
Jurel made his Test debut earlier this year, playing the final three Tests of the series against England and putting up solid performances, including a player-of-the-match performance in Ranchi, where he scored a crucial 90. However, he is seen more as an understudy to Rishabh Pant with the gloves, even temporarily stepping in to keep wickets during the New Zealand series when Pant was injured.
Nevertheless, this performance in Australia might give Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma something to think about. With Pant set to take the gloves, Jurel would likely play as an outfielder. While Jurel’s quality with the bat alone might be enough to thrust him into consideration, but India will also be considering Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has shown good performances with both bat and ball in this series so far.