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Wicketkeeper batter Dhruv Jurel opened up on his maiden Test call against England on January 12, Friday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad to play against England in the first two Test matches. While Mohammad Shami and Ishan Kishan have not been included in the squad for respective reasons, Uttar Pradesh player Dhruv Jurel got his national call. The 22-year-old opened up on his surprise selection and said he would only focus on his game during the upcoming series.
Jurel was a part of the India A squad that played two matches against South Africa in December 2023. In the second game, Jurel scored 69 runs at Benoni and recently scored 63 for UP against Kerala in a first-round group game of the Ranji Trophy. Jurel has been named as the third wicketkeeper in the squad. Speaking about his upcoming matches and being a backup option for the team, Jurel told Dainik Jagran, "I'm not concerned about others. I just want to focus on my game and keep believing."
The young star shared his excitement on sharing the dressing room with big names of the team, including the likes of star batter Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma. Jurel said, "I can’t express the feelings in words. I will share the dressing room with the heroes that I have watched on television. This will be an entirely different experience. I would try to learn as much as possible.”
He has worked hard to get where he is: Kumar Sangakkara on Dhruv Jurel’s national call
Former Sri Lanka skipper and Rajasthan Royals head coach expressed his happiness on Rajasthan Royals player’s selection. Sangakkara said, “Very proud and happy because one of our key motivators and one of our key kind of performance indicators away from the IPL is producing players for India and we have produced quite a lot over the years and Dhruv being a new addition. He’s (Jurel) a fantastic young man, a really good player who has worked really hard to get where he has. And that the fact that he’s gone through our development camps and ended up in the Test side is fantastic.”
