Sunil Gavaskar has compared Dhruv Jurel’s “presence of mind” to former India captain MS Dhoni after the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman scored a feisty 90 against England in the fourth Test in Ranchi on Sunday. Jurel’s knock helped India reach 307 in their first innings total.
“Watching the presence of mind of Dhruv Jurel makes me think he’s the next MS Dhoni in the making,” Gavaskar said while doing the commentary.
Jurel has not only impressed with his glove work but also with his batting in the series so far. The 23-year-old put on an excellent 76-run stand with Kuldeep Yadav and then stitched a valubale 40-run parnership with No 10 Akash Deep.
Jurel is a son of a Kargil war veteran, whose father wanted him to join Indian Army.
Nem Singh Jurel, a retired Havaldar from the Indian Army, wanted his son to crack the National Defence Academy (NDA) exam and serve the country. Jurel Sr, a Kargil war veteran himself, wanted Dhruv to carry forward the legacy but he was too enamoured by cricket to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“No one from my family has played cricket. Everyone who saw him bat said, ‘ladka achha hai, aap ise cricket mein daalo’. But I’m a father and was worried about his future too. Cricket nahi hua toh kya hoga (what if he didn’t make it big in cricket)? Dhruv was not that good in studies either,” Jurel Sr had told this newspaper.
During the IPL, Jurel received a bit of advice from his hero MS Dhoni as well. After hesitating for a while, he bumped into Dhoni after the match against Chennai Super Kings.
“This was the second time I was meeting him but I spoke to him for the first time,” Jurel had told The Indian Express during the IPL.
“I asked him, you have batted your entire life at No 6 and 7 and have done so well. What is the secret and is there anything different that he follows while doing this job for his team?
“He told me ‘it’s a thankless job, there’s more failures than success, so don’t think much. The only good thing about being a finisher is that you expect the worst and prepare accordingly. Not every day you can finish the match,” he shared.
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