Dhruv Jurel, standing in for Rishabh Pant, who is still recovering from his foot injury, was a sight to behold on the opening day of the Indian home Test season at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Jurel was throwing himself around, not letting anything go past him, while ensuring that he took the catches which came his way as he became the seventh Indian wicketkeeper to take four grabs in an innings in home Tests.
Nayan Mongia and MS Dhoni are the only ones to take five catches in a home Test innings, while Dhoni also has taken four catches once against Sri Lanka in 2009.
Most catches taken by an Indian wicketkeeper in an innings at home (Tests)
5 - Nayan Mongia (1999 vs PAK), MS Dhoni (2011 vs WI)
4 - Syed Kirmani (6), Budhi Kunderan (1961 vs PAK), Dinesh Karthik (2004 vs SA), MS Dhoni (2009 vs SL), Parthiv Patel (2016 vs ENG), Wriddhiman Saha (2017 vs SL), Dhruv Jurel (2025 vs WI)
Pant's best at home in an innings was three, against Sri Lanka in Mohali a few years ago. However, overall, Pant is tied with Dhoni at the top, taking six catches during the 2018 Adelaide Test against Australia, while the latter achieved the same feat against New Zealand in 2009.
The wickets procession started with Jurel grabbing one on the leg side of John Campbell, before his opening partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul handed one to the Indian stumper a couple of overs later. Jurel held on to a couple more with India bowling the Windies out for just 162. Following that, India already piled on 121 runs for the loss of a couple of wickets and found themselves just 41 runs behind the West Indies' total.
The Indian team will be keen to overhaul the deficit and take a handsome lead and bat just once, in order to put scorecard pressure on the West Indies.
