N Jagadeesan is on his way to London, drafted in as India’s reserve wicketkeeper for the fifth and final Test at The Oval after Rishabh Pant’s untimely foot fracture in Manchester last week. The 29-year-old from Tamil Nadu received his visa on Sunday and is expected to join the squad by Tuesday, giving the management a second gloveman behind Dhruv Jurel.
Pant’s injury, sustained while batting at Old Trafford, left the tour party thin on keeping options. Jurel stepped in capably for the third and fourth Tests, yet the selectors wanted a specialist back-up for a match that could decide the series and World Test Championship points.
Jagadeesan’s numbers over the past two domestic seasons are hard to ignore. He topped the Ranji Trophy run charts in 2023-24 with 816 runs at 74.18 and followed up with 674 at 56.16 in 2024-25, collecting two hundreds and five fifties along the way. Overall, the right-hander averages 47.50 in first-class cricket, with ten centuries in 79 innings and a highest score of 321 against Chandigarh last January.
Former India A coach Sitanshu Kotak put it plainly last winter: “He’s kept improving, both with the gloves and the bat. The temperament is there; it’s just a matter of opportunities.” That opportunity has now arrived, albeit via misfortune to Pant.
Although he missed out on the India A “shadow” tour earlier this year, Jagadeesan has remained on the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence radar. Coaches value his flexibility in the order; Tamil Nadu have used him from opener down to No. 6, a trait that appeals to the current team management.
He has also kept his white-ball skills sharp. On 4 July he cracked a 41-ball 81 for Chepauk Super Gillies in the Tamil Nadu Premier League – hardly a direct audition for Test cricket, yet indicative of confidence. “Runs are runs,” Jagadeesan said after that knock. “If you’re in form, you take it into any format.”
Realistically, Jurel is still favourite to start at The Oval, but a long series often throws up late twists. For Jagadeesan, even carrying drinks in south London will mark a first taste of Test cricket, and a timely reminder that persistence on the domestic circuit can still open the biggest doors.
