Dhruv Jurel has been around with the Indian team since the start of 2024 and has played five Tests, scoring 255 runs at an average of 36.
India keeper Dhruv Jurel is now a certainty in the Test side, and just somehow the preferred choice after Rishabh Pant. He is the sort of batter that instills a lot of confidence in the skipper, lower down the order. But one thing quite apparent in his FC record is the lack of centuries he has scored.
But then, when contributions come in team’s win, personal milestones hardly matter. “Honestly, earlier it did matter to me whether my score was 100 or 150. But now I understand that the team’s victory is more important,” Jurel told ESPNCricinfo, after scoring 140 vs Australia A.
“In first-class cricket, I have seven-eight (he has four) scores in the 90s, which could have been centuries. One of them was in the Ranchi Test [against England in February 2024], where I became Player of the Match and the team won the match. Cricket is a team game, and we play cricket so that the team wins. Now I think more about the team’s win than about my scores.”
But then the presence of Pant means, that usually Dhruv Jurel has to sit out of the playing XI. But the Agra boy is not complaining. “Staying with or around the [India] team definitely gives you confidence,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky and privileged that I got the chance to play Tests for India and to be with the team. Even if you are not playing, when seniors are around. you learn so many things from them. In a country of billions, how many people get this opportunity?”
“I take it one match at a time, and don’t think too far ahead. The more you think, the more pressure you put on yourself.” For him, thinking about the next India match is only putting extra pressure on himself, and right now the target is only AUS A next match.
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