Dhruv Jurel starred with an unbeaten 39 in the second innings of the Ranchi Test as he shared an unbeaten 72-run stand with Shubman Gill (52*) to give India an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
India won the Test match by five wickets chasing 192 in the second innings. The Men in Blue were in a spot of bother at 120/5 with Ravindra Jadeja and Sarfaraz Khan dismissed in back-to-back deliveries. However, Jurel and Gill kept a cool head and took India over the line.
After the Test match, he took to his official Twitter handle and thanked Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid for showing faith in him. The wicketkeeper-batter position for India has been a tried and tested one since the unfortunate accident of Rishabh Pant. The unavailability of KL Rahul due to injury concerns also made it tricky. KS Bharat who played the first two Tests hardly contributed anything with the bat.
The management then decided to give Dhruv Jurel his Test match debut alongside Sarfaraz Khan in Rajkot. He impressed one and all with his debut innings of 46 in Rajkot. At Ranchi on an even tricky pitch, Jurel’s 90 off off 149 balls in the first innings took India from 177/7 to 307 with Kuldeep Yadav (28) and Akash Deep (9) making crucial contributions as well.
His knock in the second innings came under extreme pressure and he took the accolades after taking India to a series win against England. Rohit in his post-match presentation speech did speak about the contribution of Jurel.
“We had different challenges in different Test matches and I thought we were quite composed in what we wanted to achieve and what we wanted to do on the field, very happy. Clearly tells me they (youngsters) want to be here, all the hard work they have done in the past, coming up playing domestic cricket and performing there, coming here it is a big challenge but when I look at them, talk to them and the responses that I get from them is quite encouraging,” said Rohit.
I Play According To The Situation: Dhruv Jurel
Jurel also spoke about his two knocks in the Ranchi Test. He spoke about the importance of assessing the situation and playing accordingly and his conversation with Shubman Gil during the chase.
“I play according to the demands of the situation. The 1st innings, we needed to get runs as well, we knew we had to bat last and so any runs would be vital. I was involved in some partnerships, so credit does go to all those who stayed and added runs. I just saw the ball and then reacted to it, not thinking too far ahead. The conversation was good (with Shubman Gill in the 2nd innings), we just broke it into 10-run sets and started developing the partnership,” said Jurel.
