Published: Nov 12, 2024, 01:47 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 12, 2024, 01:48 PM (IST)
Former Australian captain Tim Paine has backed young Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel to do well in the Border-Gavaskar series. This comes after Jurel shined for India A in the second Unofficial Test against Australia A. Jurel, who was included in India’s squad for the series against Australia, will mainly be used as a backup keeper to Rishabh Pant.
Jurel caught Paine’s eye when he really impressed with knocks of 80 and 68 in the first and second innings respectively for India A. Paine, who was Australia A’s coach in the match, believes that the right-hander will play as a specialist batter in the opening Test of the summer in Perth.
“I don’t know if you saw much of the highlights, but after seeing him bat (against Australia A) – even though he’s a wicket-keeper, 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. 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’,” Paine told Australian radio station SEN on Tuesday.
Paine also believes that Jurel is up for the daunting challenge that is the Border-Gavaskar series which will see him face arguably the best Test bowling attack in the world.
“He’s 23 and he’s played three Test matches, but he looked a class above all of his teammates, to be fair, and handled the pace and bounce really well, which can be unusual for an Indian player,” Paine said.
“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 (Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood), he looks like he has the game to play Test cricket,” Paine added.
