Exclusive | ‘Dhruv Jurel will Be compared with MS Dhoni’: Coach Phoolchand Sharma highlights how he differs from Rishabh Pant

India's young batter Dhuv Jurel's childhood coach, Phoolchand Sharma, believes that his student should be compared with the legendary wicketkeeper batter MS Dhoni. Jurel is currently featuring as a wicketkeeper-batter in the Test series against West Indies.

Why is Dhruv Jurel different from Rishabh Pant?

Phoolchand, who coached Jurel when he was a kid, explained how he is different from Rishabh Pant. He said that Pant is a batting-keeper, but Jurel is a keeper-batsman, so he will be compared with MS Dhoni.

"Rishabh Pant is a different type of player. He is a batsman-keeper. But Dhruv Jurel is a keeper-batsman. So if we are a test team, we want a professional keeper for the keeping. So in keeping, I can say that Dhruv Jurel will be compared with MS Dhoni" Phoolchand Sharma exclusively told Sports Tak.

Jurel will be India's main wicketkeeper batter: Phoolchand Sharma

The Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer has played six Tests, where he scored 380 runs in nine innings. Before featuring against the West Indies, he was behind the wickets during the fifth Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 after Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the series due to a foot injury he got in the fourth Test. However, Jurel also kept wickets in the fourth Test after Pant's injury. He scored 125 runs in has last Test outing where India defeated West Indies by an inning and 140 runs to take 1-0 lead in two match series.

"He is performing brilliantly; he scored good runs for India A against Australia A at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. After that, he smashed a century in the 1st Test against the West Indies. He is doing great performances, he is a very big player and he will surely become India's main wicketkeeper batter in coming time" Phoolchand Sharma added.

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Jurel Set to make ODI debut in Australia?

Dhruv Jurel has been added to India's ODI squad against Australia which is scheduled to start from October 19. However, it seems like KL Rahul will be seen keeping wickets and Jurel will be the backup option.

India's squad for ODI series against Australia

Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.