Jurel kept wickets at Lord's and Old Trafford in Rishabh Pant's absence
Dhruv Jurel has impressed with every opportunity he got during his time in India’s tour of England. The youngster started off the tour with three fifties in a row in India A’s practice games against England Lions.
It was obvious that he wouldn’t get the nod for a spot in the playing XI as Rishabh Pant was available for the series and kept piling on runs irrespective of India’s results in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
However, when Pant suffered a finger injury on an uneven Lord’s pitch, Jurel stepped up and made excellent saves and took catches that would’ve been tough for other keepers. He was also brave to walk up to the stumps against Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj who are not the slowest medium-pacers in the business.
BAN
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TWI
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WEY
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TWI
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SPE
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65/0
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WIU19-W
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Match has been called off
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In the fourth Test, Jurel was called on once again after Pant injured his foot while batting in the first innings at Old Trafford and once again was a rock behind the stumps. With Pant officially ruled out of the final Test at The Oval due to a fracture, Jurel is the most obvious choice for the keeper-batter role in the team.
His childhood coach Parvendra Yadav revealed that his ward has been backed by coach Gautam Gambhir who has earmarked him to play in the lower-middle order.
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“Gambhir had a brief chat with him. He motivated him a lot. In fact, he told him, ‘You will be the backbone of India’s middle order.’ ‘Jab mauka mile, do better’ — that’s what Gambhir said to him,” Yadav told Times Of India.
“Gambhir said, ‘Dhruv, you have the capability to bat from the No. 5 to No. 8 positions.’ It’s a challenging role, especially when the team is in deep trouble or needs runs. Coach saab taught him how to prepare for different batting position,” he added.
Jurel made his Test debut against England at Rajkot last year and has one fifty to his name from the four Tests he was picked in the playing XI.
The 24-year-old was also part of the Indian Under 19 side that reached the final of the 2019 U19 World Cup alongside Shubman Gill and Yashsvi Jaiswal. Yadav felt that the backing of Gill will surely help Jurel to settle down in the team.
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