Indian national cricket team wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel, 23, has made a revelation about how captain Rohit Sharma calmed him down ahead of his Test debut against England on February 15, 2024 in Rajkot.
Jurel came into India’s starting XI as a replacement for the struggling KS Bharat and did a great job on debut, scoring 46 runs. In total, he has scored 190 runs for India in 3 Test matches at an average of 63.33. Behind the stumps, he has taken 5 catches and inflicted 2 stumpings.
Dhruv Jurel’s best performance with the bat came in the Ranchi Test against the Three Lions, when he bailed his team out of trouble and scored a sensational 90 runs in the first innings before scoring 39 runs in the next innings.
Although Dhruv Jurel has been extremely impressive in Test cricket, he is likely to lose his place in Bangladesh’s upcoming Tests to star batsman and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel recently opened up about being nervous ahead of his Test debut in an interaction with Jatin Sapru on his official YouTube channel.
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I had eye contact with Rohit bhaiya on many occasions, but I couldn’t muster the courage to talk to him – Dhruv Jurel
Speaking in the video, Dhruv Jurel revealed that he did not have enough courage to talk to Rohit Sharma during their first meeting, and the Indian captain himself called him for a chat.
Jurel added that Rohit gave him a motivational talk, telling him that he belongs on the big stage and advised him to play his shots with full confidence.
“I had eye contact with Rohit bhaiya on many occasions but could not muster the courage to talk to him. Then he casually called me, ‘idhar aa! (come here!)’. Then he said, ‘What happened?’ Everything hampered? You have courage, that’s why you have come, you have potential.
“Aaram se reh, bindaas. Pehli ball maarni hai, maar. Bas 100 percent sure hoke maariyo’ (What’s up, all right? You deserve a place in this team. Don’t get stressed out. If you want to hit the first ball for a six, go for it. You just have to be 100 percent sure about your shot). That was the conversation. And that was when I hadn’t even made my debut,” Jurel recalled.
Speaking about the difference between UP and Team India’s dressing rooms, Dhruv Jurel said:
“Songs are still playing in the locker room. It was something completely new for me, because there is no such atmosphere in the state locker room. It is quite strict there.”
Dhruv Jurel further recalled how Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer came to him after he was beaten in the nets by Raghu, a takedown specialist.
“I was at the net facing Raghu Bhai and he gave me a really good hit. The next ball, he gave me a tremendous hit on my shoulder. Then, Axar and Iyer came to shake my hand. I was surprised that they shook my hand. They just said, ‘Welcome to Indian cricket!'” said Dhruv Jurel.