On 26th February 2024, 23 year old young Dhruv Jurel got one of the most celebrated cricketing moments of his cricketing career when he won the man of the match in his debut test series against England in Ranchi.
Hailing from Agra,Uttar Pradesh, his father served Indian Army and is a Kargil war veteran which always inculcated the desire to serve for the country in Jurel.He participated in Uttar pradesh’s Under14, Under-16 and Under-19 teams. Coming through the age group, he was appointed as the Vice captain for India Under-19 Team for Under 19 World Cup in 2020 where he got limited chances with the bat but scored an unbeaten 52 against Srilanka in opening match for India and was highly praised for his keeping skills.
Jurel made his T20 debut on 10th January in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Februrary 2022 was the turning point for the young Jurel as he was bought by Rajasthan Royals in auction for IPL 2022 and he also made his First Class debut for Uttar Pradesh in Ranji Trophy. He made his Ranji Debut against Vidarbha on 17th February and immediately impressed by scoring 64 on debut. He boasts an impressive first class record of 965 runs in just 17 matches at an average of 50.8 which includes a century and 6 fifties and a highest score of 249 against Nagaland at Sovima.
Notching impressive performance at every stage of game, he made his List A debut for India A against United Arab Emirates A in 2023 ACC Emerging Asia Cup on 14th July 2023. Along with Test and List A, he has also proved his hard hitting abilities by striking at 172.73 in IPL for Rajasthan Royals. All his hardwork was worth when he got the Indian test call up against England. After injuiry to KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer and Virat kohli opting out of the series, it paved the way for Jurel to showcase his talent. On 15th February 2024, in 3rd test, he replaced KS Bharat as wicketkeeper for India. In the same test, in first innings, batting at number 8 with lower order, he scored crucial 46 runs in 104 balls showing his mentality and temperament at highest level of the game.His wicketkeeping skills were also highly praised by legends of the game.
In the 4th Test against England and his second test, coming to bat at number 7 along with lower order batsmen, he scored a determined 90 runs off 149 balls which included 6 fours and 4 sixes. In second innings, while chasing 193, India collapsed from 84/0 to 120/5. Dhruv scored 39 off 77 balls and got involved in a crucial partnership with Shubman Gill to take India home.
The performance in the series heaped him with praises from the legendary Sunil Gavaskar who even went on to say that by looking at his presence of mind, we might have found MS Dhoni replacement behind the stumps .In debut series, which always would have some pressure on youngsters, showcasing such class and performance at highest level needs some strong mentality and skillset. Performance in these 2 test matches has demonstrated the ability the youngster has and hope he continues to grow from it .
