There were some surprise calls when India announced their Test squad for the first two matches against England on Friday. Mohammed Shami and Ishan Kishan's names were missing from the 16-member squad list but fans were surprised to see one unfamiliar name 'Dhruv Jurel'.
Dhruv Jurel's name first emerged when he made his Indian Premier League debut with Rajasthan Royals and made an instant impact with his big-hitting skills and impressive wicketkeeping. But very few know about his domestic cricket record and how he earned a maiden call-up to the national team out of the blue.
So, who is Dhruv Jurel?
The 22-year-old wicketkeeper batter was born in Agra (Uttar Pradesh) on January 21, 2001.
Dhruv made his professional debut for Uttar Pradesh during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021, India's premier domestic T20 tournament, and scored 23 runs against Punjab.
After an impressive run in T20 cricket, Jurel earned the first-class game during the Ranji Trophy match against giants Vidarbha and made an instant impact by scoring 64 runs in the first innings.
Rajasthan Royals scouted the youngster before the IPL 2022 mega auction and signed him for a base price of INR 20 lakh. He scored 152 runs in 11 IPL innings last year but his strike rate of 172.72 grabbed everyone's attention.
However, Dhruv's best performances have come in first-class cricket with 790 runs in just 15 matches at an amazing average of 46.47 with one century and five fifties so far. He also recorded a fifty in the first match of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024 season against Kerala.
In List A cricket, Dhruv has scored 189 runs in 7 innings at an average of 47.25 with two fifties and has scored 244 runs in 19 T20 innings at a strike rate of 137.07 so far.
India Squad for first 2 Tests vs England: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan
