India's rising star Dhruv Jurel revealed his thoughts on missing his maiden Test century by just 10 runs on Day 3 of the ongoing fourth Test match against England on Sunday. Spinners from both teams continued to dominate Ranchi's slow pitch but Jurel stood tall by top-scoring for India in the first innings.
Batting on his home ground, Jurel scored 90 off just 149 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes to close the deficit in the first innings. After losing his wicket, the wicketkeeper batter looked frustrated for moments while returning to the dressing room but showed no disappointment after Day 3's play in Ranchi.
India took complete control of the game with Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav taking a combined nine wickets to bowl out the Three Lions on just 145 in the second innings. India further added 40 runs in the closing stages and now need only 152 runs to win the game and lift the series trophy with ten wickets in hand.
After the day's play, Jurel said he does not regret missing out on his first-ever century and added that he only wanted to help India win this series on his debut. Jurel also shared how he tackled low-bounce deliveries with a straight bat that helped him outshine others.
“To tell the truth, I don’t rue missing out on my hundred at all because it’s my debut Test series," Jurel said. "In truth, I’m desperate to lift this trophy with my hands, because playing Test cricket was always a big dream of mine. This was a low bounce wicket, so obviously one couldn’t score square of the wicket. It is better to score off a straight face (of the bat). So I tried to keep myself ready for the fact that the wicket was playing low, and tried to play as straight as possible. Even my bigger shots, I tried to hit them down the ground.”
