NEW DELHI: Meticulous is the phrase which former India batting coach Vikram Rathour generously makes use of when he talks about Dhruv Jurel. Rathour has seen the 24-year-old carefully — first within the Indian dressing room after which with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) within the Indian Premier League (IPL).“Nice work ethic. Very honest man. Good child. Very good to talk to. Understands his cricket. Very clever so far as his recreation is anxious,” Rathour says in a freewheeling chat with TimesofIndia.com about Jurel.Go Past The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Jurel had performed solely 15 first-class matches, with a highest rating of 249 towards a weak Nagaland facet. However there was one thing about him that caught the attention of the Indian choice panel, headed by Ajit Agarkar, and he acquired his maiden call-up. Rishabh Pant was nonetheless recovering from a horrific automotive accident, KS Bharat performed the primary two Assessments towards England, after which in Rajkot, Jurel obtained his likelihood.“Rajkot was the primary time I noticed him play. After which in Ranchi, he performed a improbable knock, that partnership with Kuldeep was phenomenal. In that collection, a few knocks he performed had been unimaginable. The chase in Ranchi is one thing I’ll all the time keep in mind. It was tough circumstances, we had been underneath stress, and the collection was on the road,” remembers Rathour.
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What side of Dhruv Jurel’s recreation do you discover most spectacular?
Jurel burst onto the scene through the 2020 Beneath-19 World Cup after which had a breakthrough marketing campaign as a finisher in IPL 2023. However Rathour explains how adapting to the longer format wasn’t a straightforward transition.“In that England collection, he confirmed nice temperament and nice method. Someone who I may see desires to work laborious. He saved pushing for extra batting, extra batting. Even earlier than the beginning of the day, he needed to come back early and bat within the nets. After which I obtained the prospect to work with him at RR as effectively. He’s any person who has actually good method, a fantastic mindset, and works very laborious on his recreation,” says Rathour.Rathour feels Jurel’s wicketkeeping is pretty much as good as former India gloveman Wriddhiman Saha’s. One of many coaches, who has labored with Jurel from his youth agrees.“Jurel is unbelievable. He’s at Saha’s degree. He’s a next-level keeper. Towards spin, he’s in all probability the very best keeper in India. And towards quick bowling, he’s completely unbelievable,” the coach tells TimesofIndia.com.“On the trials, I obtained him confused with Aryan Juyal. I needed to see his video once more. He hit an inside-out shot over covers and I used to be bought,” says the coach.“Truthfully, whether or not it was Sanju Samson all these years in the past, or Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal just lately. All of them I picked based mostly on one shot. I can keep in mind the photographs even at the moment. Jaiswal got here in and flicked the primary ball over effective leg. Riyan Parag hit a six over mid-wicket. Sanju pulled the primary ball for a six in Jaipur. That shot Jurel hit confirmed the spark in him. The remainder of the innings was okay, not excellent, however that shot stayed in my head,” he provides.
Dhruv Jurel
The making of Dhruv JurelTalegaon is a small village about 100 kilometres from Nagpur, in Maharashtra’s Wardha district, a area usually talked about for its distressing farmer suicide charges. The one hint of business right here entails crafting iron items corresponding to knives, daggers, and kitchen instruments.From this unlikely setting, the place Rajasthan Royals have their coaching base, the place the RR coaches helped form considered one of India’s brightest younger stars. Jurel spent numerous weeks and months in Talegaon, sharpening his abilities very like the blades the village is thought for.“Jurel was fully completely different. We needed to change every thing. The nice factor was that we began from scratch as a result of we had the time, he wasn’t enjoying within the facet, so we may fully restructure him,” says the coach.“You see his back-lift, how he takes step one in his pre-movement, every thing has been meticulously deliberate.“It was deliberate for a correct three years. For instance, even when he got here into the Indian facet and virtually scored 100 towards England in Ranchi, three days earlier than that Check, he was at our academy. We arrange this follow session for him the place he batted for 130 overs in two hours and twenty minutes.“We nonetheless discuss that. He says, ‘Sir, nobody believes me that I’ve finished this a lot.’ I informed him to go away it, solely he is aware of how a lot he improved in that one session. He went from 50–60% to 80%,” he remembers.
Former India batting coach Vikram Rathour
Like Rathour, considered one of Jurel’s coaches praises Jurel’s work ethic, his starvation for enchancment, and compares his temperament to Rahul Dravid’s.“His work ethic is out of this world. He can simply preserve going. He jogs my memory of Rahul Dravid with that degree of self-discipline. He’ll preserve batting for hours,” he says.Within the ongoing West Indies collection, Jurel obtained one other likelihood as Rishabh Pant was but to get well from his damage, and the Agra lad grabbed the chance with each arms, slamming his maiden Check century on the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.Earlier than the collection, he had an unimaginable outing towards Australia A, scoring 140, 1, and 56. Within the first innings of the second match in Lucknow, he was trapped for 1 by pacer Henry Thornton.“Oh my god. He needed to tackle that situation that very night. He referred to as, panicking ‘I’m not ready to do that, I’m not ready to do this.’ He’s an emotional chap; I take care of him very rigorously. We addressed all these points that day itself. I mentioned, we will’t let this occur once more.“So, we made some technical adjustments. There’s a whole lot of releasing of the again foot that he does now. In the event you see him enjoying straight or on the on-side, he retains releasing the again foot into the ball. That helps him play photographs down the bottom, by mid-wicket and sq. leg — wherever from mid-on to sq. leg. By releasing the again foot, he will get into a stupendous place. It’s one thing Sachin Tendulkar used to do when hitting down the bottom. Sachin would all the time launch that again foot fantastically. Not many individuals can try this,” explains the coach.The coach says Jurel retains him on his toes on a regular basis. “He asks tough questions, a correct cricket nerd.”“He has an insane work ethic, and it’s helped him turn out to be the readymade product he’s now. He’s placing within the work — morning, midday, and evening. He doesn’t go away something.“He’ll name on a regular basis ‘Sir, is that this okay? Is that okay?’ He retains sending movies. By way of the meticulous means he prepares, he’s the primary man. Others test when one thing goes flawed, however he checks even when he’s finished effectively. His video will come,” he says.With India going by a transition and the center order removed from settled, Jurel might be a strong middle-order possibility, with Pant donning the gloves.“Who is aware of, I believe any person like Jurel is sweet sufficient to play at the same time as a batter in Assessments,” says a assured Rathour.Jurel has each attribute to carve an area for himself purely as a batter — and as a keeper, he’s a superman, among the many best possible within the enterprise.