Dhruv Jurel, the 22-year-old wicketkeeper batter from Uttar Pradesh became the latest Indian batter to get a call-up to the Test team as he was selected for the first two matches against England as the third wicketkeeping option alongside KL Rahul and KS Bharat. Jurel, who has done well in Ranji Trophy for Uttar Pradesh and in other first-class games for Rest of India and now India A, has been on the radar but finally gotten a chance and is likely to make his debut given Rahul, reportedly was considered as a specialist batter for the series.
Jurel, who had a brilliant season in the IPL with the Rajasthan Royals scoring at a strike rate of 171 in the whole season, was benched for a whole season before getting his opportunities last year for the Men in Pink and the franchise coach and Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara couldn't be happier. Currently in South Africa overseeing the Royals' sister franchise in SA20 in Paarl, Sangakkara couldn't hold his excitement seeing Jurel get a Test call-up for India while talking about his qualities.
“Very proud and happy because one of our key motivators and one of our key kind of performance indicators away from the IPL is producing players for India and we have produced quite a lot over the years and Dhruv being a new addition,” Sangakkara told reports after India’s squad announcement on Friday, January 12.
“He’s (Jurel) a fantastic young man, a really good player who has worked really hard to get where he has. And that the fact that he’s gone through our development camps and ended up in the Test side is fantastic," former Sri Lanka captain further said.
When asked about what impressed him the most about Jurel, Sangakkara said, "His work ethic, demeanour, understands pressure. He came in last season in one of the most difficult positions and scored so many runs for us. He’s an absolute match-winner in the short format. He’s always going to do well. He’s just that kind of player."
Jurel just smashed a 38-ball 50 against England Lions to celebrate his call-up and with no Rishabh Pant in the side still, the team management might look at the right-hander for that specific role.
India's Test squad for first two matches against 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, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Avesh Khan
