NEWS
Follow UsIndia had a change of wicketkeeper in the final hour of Day 2 in the first Test against New Zealand. Dhruv Jurel, as a substitute, kept the stumps in the final hour.
The change happened due to an injury to Rishabh Pant on the final ball of the 37th over bowled by Ravindra Jadeja. Devon Conway missed a turning ball from Jadeja resulting in a stumping chance. However, Pant failed to collect the ball. Instead, the ball hit him on an unprotected area on his knee.
Pant needed immediate medical attention. The physio walked out for treatment but couldn’t do much as the wicketkeeper continued to wince in pain. He had to be taken off, and just when the commentators were discussing the possibilities of KL Rahul keeping wickets, Jurel was seen running out with his pads on and wicketkeeping gloves tucked under his arm.
Earlier, substitute wicketkeepers were not allowed. However, that rule was changed in 2018, allowing Jurel to come in for Pant and keep wickets.
Pant hobbled off the field and looked in trouble while trying to land his right knee. It is worth noting that he injured his knees quite badly during his horrific accident in December 2022.
In the press conference after the day's play, skipper Rohit Sharma informed, "Ball hit his knee cap directly on Rishabh. On the same knee he had the injury (before). Hence, he didn't want to take risk and hopefully will be back tomorrow."
A few overs in, Jurel almost made a meal of a dismissal he wasn’t even a part of. As Devon Conway was clean bowled trying to reverse sweep Ravichandran Ashwin, the umpires took to the TV umpire to check if Jurel’s gloves didn’t come in front of the stumps after Ashwin released the ball. In that case, it would have been adjudged as a no-ball.
Luckily, that didn’t happen and the replays cleared that Jurel’s hands never came in front when the ball was in motion.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.
