It ias easier to make the zonal team as keeper. He kept in Dileep trophy because none of the keepers in NZ were good enough as batsman and they felt that needed more specialist batsman. Further the pitches were all seaming tracks where keeping is probably easier than the spinning tracks. The best average for the wicket keepr from NZ ranji teams was a service keepr who made his FC debut last year with average of 35. Most of the keepers had average of less than 25. It was an easy decision for NZ to accommodate an additional batsman and play P Singh as WKB.Rajkumar Sharma wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2024 2:42 pm
I think performance as WKB in Zonal system i,e Duleep Trophy is more convenient then State side
India is already saying KL will not keep in test matches for upcoming series. Which I think is fair. Keeping to spinners in India is no joke. So if P Singh wants to be considered as red ball wicketkeeper, he has to be keep for his state team. This year he kept for Punjab in white ball cricket which bolsters his case for T20 and ODI. Letting him keep directly in indian A team when we have plethora of good wkb is height of stupidity.
As to Jurel, it definitely seems like his wheels are greased well. Totally unknown player until IPL 2023 (and did show some promise in IPL, but did not take it by storm) and now named to test squad. I can easily see Jurel playing as main wicket keeper over Bharath. He better be second coming of Kirmani if he is going to get test cap