Vikrant Gupta has said that Rishabh Pant “has been playing somewhat strangely” and that India’s team management is deliberately keeping Dhruv Jurel in the squad to keep Pant on his toes ahead of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting August 15.
“The team management wants to keep Rishabh Pant on the toes, which is why Dhruv Jurel has been kept as his backup. Pant needs to score runs but he has been playing somewhat strangely.”
Vikrant Gupta, Sports Tak, August 2026
🚨Vikrant Gupta on Rishabh Pant ..🚨
“The team management wants to keep Rishabh Pant on the toes, which is why Dhruv Jurel has been kept as his backup. Pant needs to score runs but he has been playing somewhat strangely.” pic.twitter.com/0Tgrip6c2Q
— Indian Cricket 🏏 (@Indiancric1cm) August 8, 2026
Gupta made these remarks on Sports Tak during coverage of the India vs Sri Lanka warm-up match. The account @Indiancric1cm posted the clip on X on August 9. No official BCCI response has been made on the management’s approach at time of publication.
The word “strangely” carries weight because it does not describe poor form alone. It describes a player whose approach has become difficult to read, even for those watching closely. Pant’s 2026 has been exactly that.
His IPL season with Lucknow Super Giants ended with the franchise finishing last. Pant managed 251 runs from 12 innings at a strike rate that never matched his reputation. Constant shuffling in the batting order meant he never settled into a fixed role.
LSG won just eight of 23 matches under his captaincy across one and a half seasons, a win percentage below 35. The consequences followed quickly. Pant was stripped of the Test vice-captaincy ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan, with KL Rahul appointed as Shubman Gill’s deputy. He was also dropped from the ODI squad for the Afghanistan series.
In the Afghanistan Test, Pant scored 81 off 121 balls and built a 169-run stand with Gill. It was his first fifty in five innings after failing to cross 30 during the home series against South Africa in late 2025.
But the dismissal told the familiar story. On 81, with a century within reach and fielders stationed at long-off and long-on, Pant went for a big hit and got out.
R Ashwin did not hold back.
“He has played 50 Test matches now. He needs to start doing it for the team. But when the same mistake keeps happening after people point it out, I am not okay with that.”
R Ashwin, YouTube channel, after IND vs AFG one-off Test, June 2026
Ashwin pointed out that Pant’s repeated dismissals in the 80s and 90s have shaped his Test record. Had even a few of those innings been converted into hundreds, his numbers would stand among the best in world cricket.
Why Is Jurel Being Used as Pressure on Pant?
Vikrant Gupta’s reveal that management is using Jurel to keep Pant on his toes is not just about having a backup wicketkeeper. It is a deliberate strategy built around competition for places.
Both Pant and Jurel are in India’s 15-member squad for the Sri Lanka Tests. Harsha Bhogle has publicly backed playing both in the same XI, with Pant at No. 5 and Jurel at No. 7, giving India extra batting depth without compromising balance.
Jurel is not just carrying drinks. He is positioned close enough to the playing XI that Pant cannot afford to take his spot for granted. After losing the vice-captaincy and his ODI spot, the message from the selectors is that no position is permanent.
But the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI offered no reassurance. Pant was dismissed for two, coming down the track to a full ball and edging it straight to mid-off. Jurel managed one before being caught at short square leg. Both fell to Ramesh Mendis within a span of four runs.
Devdutt Padikkal’s century and Ravindra Jadeja’s 63 rescued India’s innings. Without them, the batting would have been completely exposed.
AB de Villiers, commenting on Pant’s inclusion in the Sri Lanka squad, raised the question many are asking.
“I would have to see what Pant’s fitness looks like and what his appetite is to perform. He looked a bit low on confidence and energy during the IPL. But I believe representing the country will bring out the best in him.”
AB de Villiers, on India’s Sri Lanka Test squad selection, July 2026
Insider Read:
The management’s approach of using Jurel as pressure on Pant makes sense on paper. Competition for places is how professional sport works. But there is a difference between motivating a confident player and pressuring one who is already batting without clarity.
Pant is not out of form in the traditional sense. He scored 81 against Afghanistan. He scored 416 runs at an average of 83.20 during the England tour in 2025, including two centuries. The talent has not disappeared.
What has changed is his decision-making at the crease. He is neither committing fully to aggression nor building patiently. That is what “playing strangely” looks like from inside a dressing room. A player stuck between two approaches, unable to commit to either.
When a batter in that state is told his place is under threat, two things can happen. He responds with clarity and intent, or the added pressure deepens the confusion. The second outcome is more common than most fans realize.
Indian cricket has seen this before with keeper-batters who received similar signals from management. The pressure did not sharpen their game. It made them play even more cautiously or more recklessly, depending on the moment. Neither helps a team in Test cricket.
Pant’s warm-up dismissal, charging down the pitch and getting out for two, suggests the pressure is not producing clarity yet. The Sri Lanka Test series, starting at Galle on August 15, will reveal which direction this goes.
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