The Indian coach Rahul Dravid has opened up on his choices for wicketkeeping in the upcoming Test series against England.
Rahul Dravid’s option for keeper in England Tests
The Men in Blues are scheduled to play in the 5-match test series in England’s India tour 2024.
With India announcing the squad for the test series on January 12, the Indian head coach has revealed that one of KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel will be playing as the wicketkeeper in the home test series two days before the match.
India is expecting the pitch conditions in Hyderabad to offer turn, it looked like the good length area for the spinners at either end was drier than the other parts of the surface
“Hard one to say,” head coach Rahul Dravid said on Tuesday. “Just have a look once it starts and figure it out. It looks a good one from what I’ve seen. May spin a little bit. How quickly and how fast, I’m not sure. But might spin a little bit certainly as the game goes on.”
[KL] Rahul will not be playing as a wicketkeeper in this series,” Dravid said. “I think we were quite clear about that with the selection itself. We had picked two other wicketkeepers.”
“Obviously Rahul did a fantastic job for us in South Africa and really played a big part in us drawing that series.”
“But considering It’s five Test matches and playing in these conditions, we felt we would go with another keeping option, considering the weather, considering the conditions. So obviously it’s a selection toss-up between the two other keepers that we have.”
KS Bharat was in the squad in all four Tests of India’s recent home series against Australia last year. On the other hand, Dhruv Jurel is an uncapped player from Uttar Pradesh.
While speaking about the England side, head coach Dravid said, “They’ve played really well. It’s certainly been exciting to watch them play and they’ve had success playing like that. So why wouldn’t you play like that?
“But we know it’s going to be a challenge for them in these conditions as well. These are conditions that we know very well. We’ve got a lot of experience in our attack.
As a coach, I’m looking forward to how our boys respond because I know that we’ll be put under pressure and I’m really hopeful that we respond positively.”
England’s side has prepared well to face any pitch conditions in India. “We discussed the pitch but I wouldn’t say that we discussed it at length or worry about it,” fast bowler Mark Wood said on Tuesday.
“We know, again, I know how good India is but we have enough self-belief in our group that we can do something special.
“It’s no good coming here and rolling over thinking, ‘Oh the pitch is going to do all the work’ or ‘It’s going to be tough because the pitches are not what we’re used to.’
We have to find a way and that will be what we’ll try and do in the game. We’ll adapt, we’ve got a captain that always wants to take the game forward so it should make for an entertaining series, he concluded.
England and India will be playing their first Test starting on January 25 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
