During the recently concluded third Test between England and India at Lord’s, an amusing moment involving Team India’s young wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel caught the attention of fans. Jurel, who was not part of the original playing XI, was seated near the boundary ropes when a spectator cheekily asked him for some water. The 24-year-old happily obliged, pulling out a bottle from the drinks box and tossing it over to the fan, much to the crowd’s delight.

Though not named in the XI for the Lord’s Test, Jurel found himself playing an important role after Rishabh Pant suffered a blow to his left hand during the second session on Day 1. Jurel stepped in as a substitute wicketkeeper and took charge behind the stumps for the remainder of the match. Notably, he had also sat out the first two Tests of the series but remained prepared to contribute whenever needed.

India, however, endured a crushing 22-run defeat at Lord’s on July 14. Set a target of 193, the visitors fell short despite Ravindra Jadeja’s valiant unbeaten 61 off 181 balls. With this result, England now leads the five-match series 2-1. The fourth Test is scheduled to be played at Old Trafford, Manchester, from July 23 to 27.

Dinesh Karthik’s Light-Hearted Comment on Jurel's Role

Reacting to Jurel's appearance behind the stumps, former Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik had a funny take on the broadcast. He called Jurel's contribution as Pant's replacement, “Rishabh Pant should share his match fees with Dhruv Jurel.” The remark drew laughs and highlighted the critical support role Jurel played under testing circumstances.

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Pant had already done damage with the bat in the first innings, scoring a fluent 74 off 112 balls before being run out, and had not made a significant score in the second innings when he was clean bowled by Jofra Archer for just 9 runs. The left-hander has been in superb form across the series with 425 runs in six innings at an impressive average of 70.83.