"Physio is monitoring Pant closely": Jurel hopeful of wicketkeeper's return on Day 3

India wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel said Rishabh Pant is being closely monitored by the team physio after suffering pain in his right shoulder, but expressed hope that the senior player will be fit to keep wickets on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka.

India wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel said Rishabh Pant is being closely monitored by the team physio after suffering pain in his right shoulder, but expressed hope that the senior player will be fit to keep wickets on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka. Pant was dismissed for 63 on the second day after sharing a 112-run seventh-wicket partnership with Jurel. When Sri Lanka began their first innings after India declared at 503/9, Jurel took over the wicketkeeping duties in place of Pant.

"He has a hit on his right shoulder, and the physio is monitoring him closely. I kept today because he had some pain in his shoulder. Hopefully, he will be fit tomorrow," Jurel told the media after the day's play. Jurel also spoke highly of Pant's influence on his own game and said he regularly seeks advice from the experienced India wicketkeeper-batter.

"He is a terrific player. What he has done for India, like in Australia and England... so whenever he is in [the playing XI], I only seek advice because he has played so much cricket and he's got experience. So I always ask him what I should do now, and it helped a lot," he said. The advice also proved valuable when the two batters were together in the middle, with Jurel saying Pant's aggressive approach makes it easier for him to score runs at the other end.

"It makes my batting approach easy because when you are getting runs from one end like Pant is playing and playing all the shots, the bowler might think, "I don't want to give runs to him," so he just tries to make a mistake, and that's where I get runs. So it's easy to bat with him," Jurel said. Jurel himself had a memorable day, becoming only the second Indian batter after Hardik Pandya to score a Test century at No. 7 or lower in Sri Lanka.

He remained unbeaten on 115 as India declared at 503/9, reaching his second Test century in 171 balls with nine fours. Pandya had scored 108 at Pallekele in 2017. Jurel showed remarkable patience while approaching his hundred, playing 13 dot balls after reaching 99 before completing the landmark. He then hit two sixes against Asitha Fernando as India crossed the 500-run mark.

Earlier, Jurel and Pant had added 112 runs for the seventh wicket, helping India strengthen their position after resuming the day at 300/5. After Pant's dismissal, Jurel continued to anchor the innings, adding 39 runs with Manav Suthar before partnering Mohammed Siraj to take India from 475/8 to 503/9.

Sri Lanka's reply got off to a poor start as they ended the day at 8/2, still trailing India by 495 runs. Manav Suthar dismissed Prabath for two after Lahiru Udana fell for one. (ANI)