Team India has announced Rishabh Pant’s replacement for the ODI series against New Zealand. Dhruv Jurel, who was in excellent form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, has been included in Pant’s place. This opportunity can be considered a reward for Jurel’s excellent performance.

BCCI named Rishabh Pant’s replacement

Like Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel is also a wicketkeeper-batsman. Just a day before the start of the ODI series against New Zealand, Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the team. This happened after a ball struck him during net practice at the Vadodara Cricket Stadium on Saturday. While batting against throw-down specialists, the ball struck him just above the waist, forcing him to leave the field.

Dhruv Jurel has scored 558 run at an average of 93 in seven innings across seven Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, including two centuries and four fifty-plus scores. After seven matches, Dhruv Jurel is among the top three highest run-scorers in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Jurel has been included in Team India as a replacement for Rishabh Pant, but his chances of playing in the first ODI are slim. KL Rahul is likely to be the wicketkeeper in the team’s playing eleven. Dhruv Jurel has not yet played an ODI for India. Therefore, if given the opportunity in the current series, he could make his ODI debut.

“Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant felt a sudden onset discomfort in his right lateral abdominal area while batting in the nets during India’s practice session on Saturday afternoon at the BCA Stadium, Vadodara. He was taken for MRI scans immediately and the BCCI Medical Team had a detailed discussion with an expert on his clinical and radiological findings. Pant has been diagnosed with a side strain (Oblique Muscle Tear) and is subsequently ruled out of the ODI Series”, BCCI informed.

After the inclusion of Dhruv Jurel in the team, the Indian team now looks something like this:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja