Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Dhruv Jurel is wrongly being blamed for the Indian team’s defeat in the third Test against England. While saying that, the substitute wicketkeeper gave away a few byes, he added that most of those deliveries were unreachable as well. Notably, India suffered a 22-run defeat in the third Test against England at Lord’s on Monday, July 14 as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “A narrative is being set that India lost because of the byes Dhruv Jurel conceded, that he came in as a substitute keeper, he didn’t bat, Rishabh Pant did that, but the byes he conceded was the only reason. You didn’t lose the match because of Dhruv Jurel.”

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“There is a problem at Lord’s. The ball goes in one direction, and then keeps moving in the other direction with the slope. I was seeing deliveries from (Jasprit) Bumrah and (Mohammed) Siraj, the kid was diving, but wasn’t able to reach there. The balls were so far away. If the ball had gone past the batter where it finished, you would have said it’s a wide,” he added.

However, Aakash Chopra also stated that India’s defeat in the Lord’s Test can be attributed to many other reasons as well.

“When you lose a match, you start looking at problems, as to what all went wrong. Jamie Smith’s catch was dropped at five, and he scored a fifty. You were 248/3 at one stage, then you had another sudden collapse. I am talking about the first innings. So there will always be reasons. A team wins together and loses together,” he said.

“I am yet to come across a Test match that you lost because of one guy’s mistake. It can happen in T20s, but it never happens in Test cricket. It’s a huge game that unfolds over five days. I would say cut Dhruv Jurel some slack. Mistakes happen, but he is a good keeper, and he will be there for a long period of time,” Aakash Chopra concluded.