KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel to be a part of India A squad for practice match in Australia

Unlike the rest of the Indian Test squad, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel have been selected to depart early for Australia to join the India A squad. This decision allows them to gain valuable match practice before the Border-Gavaskar series begins on November 22 in Perth. The duo will participate in India A's upcoming final unofficial red-ball match against Australia A in Melbourne this week.

Rahul has so far played just three Test matches since September, albeit with no much luck. He scored 118 runs in five with just a solitary fifty and one dismissal for duck, across two series. He was eventually dropped for the second and third match against New Zealand at home. Jurel, on the other hand, did not get game time in the traditional format since his debut series for India against England earlier this year. His only involvement in the New Zealand series was in the opening Test when regular wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant had incurred a knee injury and hence the youngster substituted him with the gloves in Bengaluru.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the team management and selectors decided to send Rahul and Jurel early to Australia because they did not have enough game time. Moreover, the BCCI cancelled India's only scheduled practice game, against India A, ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth. India will instead have a centre-wicket match simulation, as per the report.

Rohit, speaking to the media in Mumbai after India's humiliating 0-3 defeat on home soil, reckoned that BCCIs' move to have a centre-wicket match simulation will help the players prepare better than facing any of the opposition cricketers.

“We are travelling with a squad of 19 players and only three days were allotted to us. I don’t know how much workload we can get in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared. The management feels that we’d rather have a match simulation where batters can spend more time in the middle and the bowlers can bowl a lot of balls. That is something that we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem,” Sharma said.

The Indian team will leave for Australia on November 10 and will train at the WACA, the old Test venue in Perth, ahead of the series opener, where the World Test Championship final qualification will be on the line. India, who dropped to the second spot in the points table after incurring their first-ever whitewash on home soil in a Test series, will have to avoid any defeat or more than one draw against Australia to make the WTC final.