Follow UsTeam India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has admitted that the batting form showcased by wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel certainly puts pressure on Sai Sudharsan, as he did not rule out the possibility of Jurel operating as a batter in the top three if and when Rishabh Pant returns.
In the first Test against West Indies, Jurel brought up his maiden Test ton and he is now averaging 47.50 from his first 6 Tests. Sudharsan, meanwhile, is only averaging 21.00 in comparison and he fell for 7 in the Ahmedabad game.
"I'd imagine it does [put pressure on Sai Sudharsan]," ten Doeschate said of Jurel’s form, reported ESPNCricinfo.
“I think Dhruv showed last week just what a good player he is. We've known that all along, how well [he could] fit into the middle order, and in addition to that, there are other good players who are fighting for a top-three or top-four spot - obviously Shubman [Gill]'s got four nailed down.
"Sai's aware of that, and look, I don't think you pursue a career of playing cricket in India if you don't expect that sort of competition and people clawing at you, the media clawing at you, that's part and parcel of it, and we know Sai is tough enough to deal with that."
Ten Doeschate asserted that Sudharsan himself knows that he needs to fight for and earn his spot, but insisted that the management fully back him and believe in his talent and ability. The assistant coach said that the left-hander has to find a way of scoring runs, turning potential into performance.
"I think he [Sudharsan] is under no illusion and he can't hide away from the fact that you do fight for a spot in this environment, where you saw Karun Nair get four Test matches in England [before getting dropped for the West Indies series],” ten Doeschate said.
“There are a lot of good players fighting up the hill to whoever has possession of that spot," ten Doeschate said. "So Sai just needs to focus on believing in himself. We've obviously got a lot of belief in him to give him that No. 3 spot. He is playing pretty nicely, probably a tactical mistake the other day, which he'll be aware of - playing back to a ball so early in an innings.
"We know he's good enough; and now he has to find a way of scoring runs and showing the rest of the country and the rest of the team that he's good enough to hold that spot. But certainly no panic or no worry - particularly in a winning team you can absorb that in a series like this, where he knows he's going to get four knocks."
Meanwhile, speaking of Jurel, the assistant coach heaped praise on the wicketkeeper and said that the management are delighted with his progress.
"We're really happy with the way he is tracking," ten Doeschate said of Jurel.
"He's someone, even in England, even a little bit in Australia, we were trying to squeeze him into the plans because we know how good he is, and obviously, with Rishabh now being injured, it's worked out quite nicely to get Dhruv some game time.
"[In terms of] his development, what we saw at the back end of last year, leading into this year, we were really hoping he would kick on in the IPL, and he maybe didn't have quite the IPL he would have hoped for and we would have hoped for, but to come into the team now like he has and to score a proper hundred like that, hopefully it gives him a bit of runway, and if you look at it in a positive way, it's good that he is putting pressure on other players in the top order as well."