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“Test cricket? Easy, right?
If this was Dhruv Jurel’s concise assessment of the five-day game, you can’t really blame him. The 23-year-old from Agra, who was not on the national team’s radar three months ago, has established himself as a household name after just seven days at the highest level.
The decision to play KL Rahul as a specialist batsman, Ishan Kishan’s withdrawal due to personal reasons and KS Bharat’s normal start to the Test series gave Jurel a debut in Rajkot last week. Impressing with a flawless 46 followed by electric athleticism and astute situational awareness that resulted in the defeat of Ben Duckett, Jurel vindicated the faith reposed in him by the team management, proving that despite having little first-class experience, he belonged to the cauldron of Test cricket.
Trevally did no harm to his growing reputation in the ongoing Ranchi Test, the rock around which India built a magnificent comeback on the third day of another enthralling game. Just like on moving day in Rajkot, India were again on the defensive at the start of the mid-day break. Once again, as in Rajkot, they recovered magnificently to take the lead, thanks mainly to the spirit and courage shown by a young man in just his second test.
This has been a 20-something series, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan all holding a mirror to the future. Add Trevally to that mix, emphatically.
Belying his age and relative inexperience (he has only played 49 top-level matches), Jurel took it upon himself to restore the hosts to a match that seemed to have slipped out of their hands. On a pitch where lack of bounce was the biggest threat, Jurel’s propensity to identify length and fully commit to the front foot or back off, derived from immersing himself in his domestic cricket database, placed him in wonderful aid during A truly brilliant match. 90 which was worth more than the impressive numerical magnitude of him.
India were 161 for five, answering England’s 353, when Jurel nonchalantly walked out, working tirelessly with the gum in his mouth, on the second day. He must have been nervous, who wouldn’t be? – but like the swan whose feet swim frantically underwater but who appears serenely calm above it, he showed no outward trace of anxiety. Within half an hour he had lost Sarfaraz and R Ashwin; At 177 for seven, India looked set to concede a huge and decisive deficit.
Trevally did not seem to believe the same. In the company of Kuldeep Yadav, he began the rescue act, taking on top tormentor Shoaib Bashir and taking him in the middle for two boundaries before settling down to work. Jurel, confident enough to allow Kuldeep to monopolize much of the attack, did his part to reduce England’s lead. When Kuldeep’s excellent run ended in unfortunate fashion, Jurel took over the lead role in the company of Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, accounting for the majority of the 54 runs stitched for the last two wickets.
Batting with your tail requires understanding and empathy. It is not easy even for the most accomplished. VVS Laxman was a master of making the most of the latter. If Sunday is anything to go by, Jurel has soaked up the spirit of wonderful Hyderabadi, which is saying a lot.
Taking the strike and playing the big knock when the opportunity presented itself, Jurel took India to within 46 of England’s total when Tom Hartley dismissed him with a beauty. He meant no maiden trial deserved; Jurel must have been disappointed, but he would also have been delighted to have gotten his team out of trouble when more established hitters had found things difficult.
In his moment of personal glory, Jurel did not forget his roots. Immediately after presenting his first Test fifty, he offered a salute, probably in honor of his father, a war veteran from Kargil. This young man is something extraordinary, isn’t he?
Jurel’s journey, however, was just beginning. He still faced an arduous period behind the sticks, with the bounce rising higher and higher to his ankle and nothing more. Digging into his reserves of concentration and strength, he kept the wickets magnificently, replicating his batting heroics: soft hands, deft footwork. The knockout blow came through a fabulous right-handed catch to dismiss James Anderson, give Ashwin his fifth wicket and end England’s innings. What made the catch special was that Anderson lined up to reverse spin, the ball bouncing off his pad to the back of his bat and from there to the slide. Trevally’s wonderful shot was slow and effortless. Easy, right?