England Star Has "Man Crush" On Dhruv Jurel: Ben Stokes Reveals Name After Series Loss

The one cricketer who has got a lot of adulation after the fourth India vs England Test is Dhruv Jurel. Playing only his second Test, Dhruv Jurel showed amazing maturity in bringing out the Indian cricket team out of a tough situation. With the team in danger in the first innings, Dhruv Jurel scored 90 and ensured India did not concede a huge lead against the visitors. Then in the second innings, he stayed unbeaten on 39 to take the Rohit Sharma-led hosts to victory, which also sealed the series win. 

India now has an unassailable 3-1 series lead over England, with a match to spare.

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma was effusive in his praise for Dhuv Jurel and other youngters in the side. "At present, I do not see anyone who doesn't have that hunger: those who are here in the squad and even those who are not here--every one of them wants to play. But the opportunities at this level come very rarely. If you do not utilise that opportunity, then you lose that chance. We have all experienced that. So those players who utilise the opportunities, who make the team win, who perform for the team--obviously, that is noted. That is very important," Rohit Sharma said. 

England captain Ben Stokes had an interesting compliment for Dhruv Jurel. 

"Both innings he's played very well. His keeping was also something to watch - I think Ben Foakes has a little man crush on him there," Ben Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. 

After helping the hosts come out on the winning side of a nervy run chase, Jurel said he has oriented his game to play as per the situation while also praising his batting partners for supporting him. He also said it was a great learning experience playing against a formidable English attack featuring the likes of old warhorse James Anderson and Mark Wood.

He said he saw some of the English stalwarts on television in his formative years in cricket.

"I want to adapt my game to whatever the situation demands. During our first innings, I thought that the more I score, the fewer would be our deficit with England and the fewer we would have to chase in the second innings. During the first innings, we lost quite a few wickets upfront and I had to bat with the tail-enders. Thankfully, however, I got a partnership going with the lower-order batters. The tail-enders also deserve credit for the way they hung around with me," Jurel said.

On battling against the likes of Anderson and Wood in the third Test, he said, "It felt good playing against them because I saw them on TV. The idea was to play the ball, not the bowler. Gill and I were having mid-pitch discussions on completing small tasks, to approach the chase in sets of ten runs each."

In what has been a promising start to his red-ball career, Jurel scored a gutsy 46 in his debut Test at Rajkot and was unlucky to miss out on his maiden Test fifty.

In the second Test as well, he missed out on his maiden ton but gave the selectors a happy headache with match-turning hands with the willow across both innings.

With ANI inputs 

Topics mentioned in this article

Ben Stokes Ben Foakes Dhruv Jurel India Cricket Team England Cricket Team India vs England, 2024 Cricket