Agarkar sent 'Jurel, Samson' tip for Bangladesh Tests after Pant gets 'exposed for fraud' over Duleep Trophy failure

Rishabh Pant received an early boost on Wednesday after Ishan Kishan was ruled out of the opening round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy owing to an injury he picked up during the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament. The development left Pant favourite to make a return to the Test side for the first time since December 2022, when he had incurred a car accident. However, he failed to impress the selectors on Day 1 of the domestic tournament at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, after being dismissed for just seven runs in 10 balls.

India B incurred a poor start to their innings after being put to bat first by India A captain Shubman Gill as the pace trio of Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, and Akash Deep reduced the side to 94 for seven in 43.5 overs, with each of the bowlers picking two wickets each.

During the collapse, Pant fell victim to Akash in the 36th over of the innings, when he looked to go over mid-off for a boundary, but instead holed it out to Gill, who took a tumbling, and almost injured his shoulder, to grab a brilliant catch.

Following the poor outing in the first innings, fans on social media lashed out at the cricketer while advising BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar to consider Dhruv Jurel and Sanju Samson as India's wicketkeeping options for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh, which begins on September 19.

BCCI to pick Indian team after first round of Duleep Trophy

The Agarkar-led committee will pick the 15-member squad for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh and the selectors will keep a keen eye on the Duleep Trophy proceedings. According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, the Test squad will be named after the end of the opening round of the domestic tournament, on September 8. The selected players will then attend a training camp in Chennai, before the opening Test at the same venue.

Pant, who made a return to competitive cricket in IPL 2024 after spending almost 15 months recovering from the car accident, will be hoping to get picked for the Test series after making a comeback in T20Is during the World Cup in June and later in the ODIs during the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. However, he faces stiff competition from Jurel, who not only impressed in his debut series against England earlier this year, but was also decent with the gloves on Day 1 of the 2024 Duleep Trophy for India A.