India men’s cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir on the eve of the first Test against Bangladesh confirmed that Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel won’t feature in the side that will take the field on September 19. Gambhir said that they are not dropping players and instead picking the ones who fit into the team combination. He lauded both Sarfaraz and Jurel but said that they will have to wait for the opportunities.
"We don’t drop anyone. We just pick the players who fit the XI. We believe in selecting the XI. Jurel is a phenomenal player when Pant is coming in, sometimes people have to wait. Same with Sarfaraz. There will be opportunities and you have to wait," Gambhir said in the pre-match press conference in Chennai.
Dhruv, Sarfaraz’s Test record and Duleep Trophy performance
Jurel who has scored 190 runs from four innings at an average of 63.33 in Tests was unimpressive in Duleep Trophy 2024 first round. Playing for India A, he scored two runs in the first innings followed by a duck at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
While Jurel joined the rest of the squad in Chennai after the first round, Sarfaraz stayed behind with India B. The 26-year-old followed up a single-digit score in Bengaluru against India A by a quickfire 46 which was crucial in the context of the game. He was the only batter from the Test squad against Bangladesh to play the second round of the domestic tournament. He scored 16 runs against India C. The Mumbai batter has 200 runs from five innings at an average of 50 in Tests including three half-centuries.
Senior players return
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will mark his return to Test cricket. Pant scored a quickfire 61 for India B in his red-ball return after a single-digit score in first innings. Meanwhile, KL Rahul has been backed by the team management to pick right where he left off in Hyderabad against England. For India A, he registered scores of 37 and 57 to earn his place back in the Test squad after injury ruled him out of three Tests against England earlier this year.
India’s first Test squad vs Bangladesh
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.
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