Dhruv Jurel is still finding his way in international cricket – nine Tests and four T20Is don’t add up to much – yet the 23-year-old continues to look anything but a reserve. On Friday night in Jaipur he peeled off a T20 career-best 81 not out from 43 balls, guiding Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru and keeping their perfect start to this IPL alive.
“For me, batting number is just a number; my character is such that even if you ask me to bat at eight or nine, I will take it happily.”
The statement came before the tournament began, and the Royals have taken him at his word. Pushed up to No. 3 this season, Jurel now has 176 runs in four outings, all at better than 170 a hundred. On this occasion he arrived with the score 21 for 1, Jaiswal gone, 202 required. He left only when the job was finished.
Ambati Rayudu, watching on the television broadcast, sounded genuinely impressed.
“He has shown a lot of class in terms of skill as well as his temperament. He really stood out,” Rayudu said. “He looks to be a very, very mature batsman now. It’s time that he steps up in terms of all the formats of the game, hopefully for India.
“I think the world needs to talk about him a little more than what they generally do. He’s flying under the radar right now. In Indian cricket, I don’t see many people being more talented than him in terms of being a complete batsman. So he’s an amazing talent and I don’t think he should be [overlooked]. He should be given his due.”
Aaron Finch echoed the view.
“His technique, his temperament, his ability to sum up the situation, pace and spin. He’s got the complete game,” Finch remarked. “How easy he made batting look when he first walked to the crease was something else. And it’s easy to just fall into the trap of saying, you know what, ‘youngster, you just keep going, I’ll get one’. He came out and just hit the ball in the middle of the bat from ball one. He was brilliant. And was a big reason why Vaibhav was able to continue to go, because he had the partner who maintained the momentum and then he was able to just keep pushing the button.”
That “Vaibhav” is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the current Orange Cap holder and, in truth, the man who has dominated most conversations about Royals batting this spring. Jurel, though, is proving the perfect foil. The left-hander opened with 47 off 23 balls; the right-hander kept the tempo, finishing the powerplay at 97 for 1 thanks primarily to a brutal 24-run sixth over from Abhinandan Singh.
“When I bat at No. 3, he makes my batting look easy. When you go in and Vaibhav is smashing every ball, you tend to think nothing is happening on the wicket. And inside, like, cricket is not easy [like Sooryavanshi makes it seem],” Jurel told reporters afterwards. “And [after] five overs, we were like 65-70 [73] runs. And that sixth over, Abhinandan bowled to me, and I was just telling myself, ‘I have to cash in, I have to cash in, I have to cash in’.”
Cash in he did: 4, 6, 4, dot, 6, 4. From there it was a measured chase rather than a mad scramble. Jurel rotated when the field spread, then finished with a pair of late boundaries, raising his bat briefly before embracing the non-striker. No roaring, no fist pumps – simply a nod that the plan had worked.
Why is it working? Partly technique – he stays still, gets low, and is happy to go square rather than merely straight. Partly temperament – the Test debut in Ranchi earlier this year showed he can bide his time. And partly the clarity that comes from a defined role. Asked if he prefers first drop, he shrugged: the number is “just a number”.
For the Royals it means flexibility elsewhere. Sanju Samson can hold himself back, Riyan Parag is free to attack from four or five, and the lower order seldom feels hurried. The bigger question, inevitably, is whether India’s selectors take notice. At Test level Jurel sits behind Rishabh Pant, at T20 he competes with Ishan Kishan and others. Yet the twin endorsements from Rayudu and Finch carry weight.
The IPL season is young; opponents will doubtless probe Jurel with slower balls into the pitch and heavy mid-wicket traffic. For now, though, the evidence is clear enough. The youngster with “the complete game” is doing exactly what the Royals ask, and doing it with minimal fuss. That, as much as the headline numbers, is why teammates, pundits and – maybe soon – national selectors are paying closer attention.
