India youngsters Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan had a memorable outing during the recently-concluded five-match series against England, which the hosts won 4-1. Jurel was named player of the match in the 4th Test in Ranchi, while Sarfaraz also impressed in his first Test series, scoring a fifty in the both innings of his debut Test in Rajkot. In the fifth and final Test in Dharamsala, Jurel showed impeccable reading of the game by predicting how Kuldeep Yadav can dismiss England batter Ollie Pope.
While many believed that it was Jurel who shouted that Pope would step out of his crease to counter the spin, India captain Rohit Sharma has revealed that it was actually Sarfaraz who called the shots.
"Yeh badhega aage (he will step out)," Sarfaraz had told Kuldeep, as confirmed by Rohit.
"Brilliant! It was Sarfaraz who predicted that stumping. I had placed him slightly behind the short leg region and he shouted "ab ye aage badhega. I enjoyed a lot played with these youngsters. I hope we can play a lot of cricket together". Next ball, Pope got stumped," Rohit revealed in an interaction.
Meanwhile, Sarfaraz and Jurel were inducted into Group C of BCCI's central contract with an annual retainership fee of Rs 1 crore, having fulfilled the criteria of playing three Tests in a current season.
Their names were ratified during BCCI Apex Council meeting which was held on Monday.
Sarfaraz, a domestic heavyweight for Mumbai, scored three half-centuries in three Tests against England while Agra man Jurel, with scores of 90 and 39 not out in a tricky chase at Ranchi, won the Player of the Match in only his second game.
Ratification of central contract was on the agenda and both have made the cut.
(With PTI Inputs)