Friday 26 / July / 2024
Ranchi: Following India's win over England in the fourth Test, Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel thanked skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid for believing in him.
Riding on sparkling performances of young guns Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel, the hosts went past the finish line in Ranchi and, in the process, clinched the five-match series 3-1 with a five-wicket victory in the fourth Test against England on Monday.
"Thank you Rohit bhaiya, Rahul sir for believing in this boy," tweeted Jurel.
Jurel has had a fine start to his Test career, making 46 in his debut Test at Rajkot in this series.
In what was a must-win Test, England chose to bat first after winning the toss and closed their first innings at 353, riding majorly on a fine comeback century by premier batter and former skipper Joe Root (122* in 274 balls, 10 fours), a half-century from Ollie Robinson (58 in 96 balls, with nine fours and a six) and Ben Foakes (47 in 126 balls, with four boundaries and a six).
Ravindra Jadeja (4/67) and Akash Deep (3/83) were the pick of the bowlers for India.
India were bundled out for 307 in their first innings in reply to England's 353. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal (73 in 117 balls, with eight fours and a six) firing once again, India were reduced to 219/7 before Jurel (90 in 149 balls, with six fours and four sixes) joined forces with Kuldeep (28 in 131 balls) to stitch a 76-run stand for the eighth wicket and dragged India past the 300-run mark.
Spinner Shoaib Bashir troubled Indian batters, picking up his maiden five-wicket haul (5/119). Tom Hartley (3/68) and James Anderson (2/48) also registered impressive figures.
The lion-hearted rearguard effort by Jurel, in the company of the lower order, not only lifted India from the dumps but also helped reduce England's first-innings lead to 46 runs.
In their second innings, England were shot out for just 145 runs, with Zak Crawley (60 in 91 balls, with seven fours) and Jonny Bairstow (30 in 42 balls, with three fours) offering some resistance. Spinners took all the 10 wickets for India, with Ravichandran Ashwin (5/51) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/22) leading the bowling charts for the hosts.
Chasing 192 for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, the hosts were off to a fine start, with skipper Rohit Sharma (55 in 81 balls, with five fours and a six) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 in 44 balls, with five fours) putting on an 84-run opening stand.
However, that was before Bashir brought the visitors back into the game, picking up 3/79 and reducing India to 120/5.
Thereafter, Shubman Gill (52* in 124 balls, with two sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (39* in 77 balls, with two fours) guided India to a series win by five wickets.
