Following a rain-hit T20I series in Australia, Team India is now set to host South Africa for two Tests at home. India last played the West Indies at home, beginning Shubman Gill’s era in India as Test captain. Against the Windies, India played Nitish Kumar Reddy as a pace-bowling all-rounder, while Dhruv Jurel assumed the wicket-keeping duties as Rishabh Pant was out injured.
However, now, Pant is making his much-awaited return to the side. With him being as successful as he is and India’s vice-captain in Tests, he will walk into the playing XI. However, that means India will have to make room for Pant by excluding one of Jurel or Reddy. Excitingly, as per PTI, it will be Reddy who will miss out, with Jurel considered as a specialist batting option.
Deserving call for Dhruv Jurel
There are hardly any players who have justified their selection whenever selected apart from Jurel. Right from his India debut to now, the talented keeper-batter from Uttar Pradesh is making a lot of fans by the amount of runs he has been scoring, whether for India or India A.
After a productive IPL 2025 with Rajasthan Royals (RR), Jurel flew to England, where he played the two four-day games for India A, making 227 runs at 75.67. After an unfortunate injury to Pant, Jurel even kept wickets across four innings in total, including the historic Oval Test where he was part of the playing XI. Then, featuring again for India A in three innings against Australia A, the 24-year-old had another great outing, smacking 140 and 56 before playing both the Test matches against WI.
And what did he do? Well, Jurel made a century statement as he mustered a total of 175 runs at 87.50 in that series. This is not just it. In the ongoing India A vs South Africa A second unofficial Test, Jurel has batted like a dream. He delivered two high-quality centuries for the Pant-led side. His century in the first innings was truly remarkable, as it came when all the big guns were gone and India A were reeling at 86/6. He followed it up with another hundred in the second innings.
Jurel’s home‑season scores so far read 140, 1 & 56, 125, 44 & 6, 132, and 127 not out. Across his last eight first‑class innings he has three hundreds (including a Test century), one half‑century and a 40‑plus knock, making his selection a deserving one.
Why Nitish Kumar Reddy?
India played Nitish Reddy in the previous series, as they see him as a three-format player. NKR played the ODIs against Australia but missed out in the T20Is due to an injury. However, one mistake that Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill made in the Tests against WI is that they didn’t let Nitish bowl much. In fact, in the entire series, he bowled just four overs, reducing his chances to show what he has to offer with his medium-pace bowling.
“Jurel is likely to play as a specialist batter. Ideally, there are two slots where he could be fitted in. One was Sai Sudharsan at No. 3 but he has a half-century in his last Test and the team management wants a settled No. 3,” a BCCI source privy to the selection developments told PTI on condition of anonymity. “The other place is Nitish Kumar Reddy and he can’t be played ahead of Jurel, considering that his bowling won’t be required much in these Indian conditions,” he added.
Predicted India Playing XI vs South Africa, 1st Test
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Bench: Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel
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