Dhruv Jurel: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday evening announced its 16-member squad for the first two Test matches against England starting on January 25, in which 22-year-old Dhruv Jurel has been included in the squad first time. Ishan Kishan, who reportedly took a break from cricket citing mental fatigue, has not been named as the top wicketkeeping option.
The team surprisingly includes Uttar Pradesh cricketer Dhruv Jurel, who will be the backup wicketkeeper to KL Rahul, who kept wickets in both the matches of the Test series in South Africa, and KS Bharat.
The youngster was part of the India A team that played two matches against their South African counterparts in December last year. Dhruv Jurel scored 69 runs in the second match in Benoni and he scored 63 runs for Uttar Pradesh against Kerala in the first round group game of the Ranji Trophy.
The 22-year-old, who made his first-class debut against Vidarbha last year, has so far scored 790 runs in 15 matches in the home series at an average of 46 with one century and five fifties.
This will be India’s third assignment in the current World Test Championship cycle and first on home series. Earlier, they had won the two-match series 1-0 in West Indies after the second match was drawn, while earlier this year they had held host South Africa to a 1-1 draw in the two-match series.
His chances of getting an India cap are slim as KS Bharat and KL Rahul are ahead of him in the pecking order, but it is worth sharing the dressing room with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin during crucial times. Home series will definitely give ‘Army Kid’ a boost.
Indian squad Selected for first two Tests vs England
Indian squad for first two Tests vs England: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj,Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav,Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.
The situation became worse when 14-year-old Dhruv Jurel threatened to run away from home if his father did not get him a cricket bat due to financial constraints. It was Dhruv Jurel’s mother who came to the rescue. He sold his gold chain to arrange money for his son’s dreams.
Dhruv, who almost quit cricket at the age of 14 due to financial constraints and lack of support, was looking forward to the brightest chapter of his cricket career, here is a glimpse of his journey full of difficulties.
Ever since Dhruv gained the maturity to understand the struggles of life, he had two objectives: he wanted to make it big in cricket, but more importantly, he had to ensure that his mother’s support did not go in waste.
Dhruv Jurel‘s Father Support
His father, Nem Singh Jurel, a Kargil War veteran, never wanted him to pursue any other sport as his career except cricket. He wanted his son to strike out on his own and join the defense forces, or even better, take up a government job.
The fact that he has made a name for himself as a finisher in a team that has players like Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder is the biggest testament to his talent. But the biggest reward for Dhruv Jurel were his father’s words.
Dhruv Jurel recalled, “They had come to Jaipur to watch the IPL match. He turned to his father and mother and said, ‘I have found your gold chain today.’
Nothing has been easy for the talented wicketkeeper-batsman. But things slowly started changing. Buoyed by confidence with the support of his mother, Dhruv Jurel regularly topped the run-scoring charts in junior cricket in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
Cricket Career of Dhruv Jurel
Dhruv Jurel, who is currently playing for India A in the two-day unofficial Test against England Lions in Ahmedabad, and has a first-class average of 46.47, has been selected as the backup wicketkeeper in the Indian team.
We didn’t realize the timing (I didn’t realize it then) but when I realized what a big sacrifice it was, I became more determined that Jurel said so. Now the 22-year-old player is one of the most talented prospects for IPL franchise Rajasthan.
Ever since making his IPL debut against Punjab Kings, where the right-handed batsman almost gave RR victory with an impossible target. When he came to bat at No. 8, he has been an impressive figure, scoring 74 runs off 30 balls. Dhruv Jurel has won the praise of the greats of world cricket by scoring unbeaten 32 runs in 15 balls.
In search of better opportunities, he moved to Noida, part of Delhi NCR, but the regular commute from Agra to Noida was taking a toll on his mental and physical health. Then his mother came forward. He decided to shift to Noida with his son.
Dhruv Jurel’s bat continued to live up to expectations and he was soon selected for the India U19 team. He was also the vice-captain of the Indian team at the U19 World Cup in 2020, where they finished as runners-up.
Change in Dhruv Jurel’s luck and father’s support
Dhruv Jurel’s mother was not the only one who made sacrifices for him. Seeing Dhruv Jurel’s patience, determination and passion, his father’s resistance gave way to indirect support. His father sacrifice was of different kind. Dhruv Jurel said, “His father heard regular taunts from my neighbors that he was ruining my life by allowing me to play cricket etc.” Then only Nam Singh supported him.
It took three tries for Dhruv Jurel to get an IPL franchise after the U19 World Cup, when most of his teammates – Yashvi Jaiswal, Ravi Bishnoi and Priyam Garg had already made their debut in the big league.
My father told me that to stand out I needed to do something different. I should always wait for my time, says Dhruv Jurel.
Dhruv Jurel’s Impact Player Rules are blessings and success
Finally the time came when RR bought him for his base price of ₹20 lakh in IPL 2022. But he did not get a single game in the entire season as RR backed Riyan Parag. However, the situation changed after losing to Gujarat Titans in the final last year. Management told Dhruv Jurel that he will bat at number 6 or 7 next year.
“With Jaiswal, Sanju (Samson) bhaiya and Jos (Buttler) bhaiya, there was no place at the top of the rankings. So Kumar Sangakkara (RR coach) sir and the management were very clear that they are looking at me at No. 6 or 7, not at the end. This is what I was told after the finals of the year,” says Dhruv Jurel.
The Impact Player rule implemented this season was a big blow to players like Dhruv Jurel. He knew that he would come into the plan as an impact player whenever they chased the target. The opportunity came in the second match of the season and Dhruv Jurel’s performance with the bat was such that he got a place in the starting eleven in place of out-of-form Riyan Parag.
Dhruv Jurel‘s Success Journey from Nagpur
Dhruv Jurel backed up his impressive debut with a few more impressive innings lower down the order – 34 not out off 16 balls against RCB and 34 off 15 balls against CSK. Jurel credits his transformation to training in the off-season at the RR Academy in Nagpur. “RR coaches helped a lot. I trained 5-6 hours a day at RR Academy, Said Dhruv Jurel.
Everything from situational drills to power-hitting was routine. That gave me a lot of confidence and it helped me when I finally got the chance to bat in the middle,” said Dhruv Jure
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