Dhruv Jurel
became the toast of the nation after a heroic debut Test series, highlighted by the wicketkeeper-batsman's career-best knock of 90 runs and a match-winning 39 not out in two innings of India's fourth Test against England in the ongoing five-match series.
The 'Player of the match' in Ranchi had scored 46 in his debut knock in the previous Test in Rajkot.
India won both the matches to take a series-clinching 3-1 lead.
In India's first innings of the fourth Test in Ranchi, Jurel was joined by tailender Kuldeep Yadav with India reeling at 177/7 and the duo took the total to 219/7 at stumps.
After the end of the match, Jurel revealed he couldn't sleep that night.
"I was not able to sleep last (after Day 2) night. I was just thinking how I could spend more time in the middle, add runs and help the team. The more runs I scored, the less the team would require while chasing, so that was all I was thinking even while at the wicket today. The most important thing is having faith in the tail-enders. You need to make them feel confident about their batting, stay at the crease and make them believe that this is doable," he said.
The duo came back next day to take their partnership to 76, when Kuldeep was dismissed after scoring a valuable 28. It helped India restrict England's first-innings lead to just 46, which proved crucial in the end.
Chasing 192 to win, India found themselves in trouble at 120/5, when Jurel (39 not out) and opener Shubman Gill (52*) joined hands to ensure India reach home without any further stutter to register a five-wicket victory.
During the show, Jurel also shared the excitement of his family after he was picked in the squad for the series.
"When I was named in the squad, I called my parents and their happiness forced me to put it on social media. My mom doesn’t know much about the game, but she knew it was for India. My mom doesn’t watch a lot of cricket, is scared of me getting out and she is very emotional. She just knows how many runs I scored and the catches I took," said Jurel.