Dhruv Jurel was overshadowed by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as Rajasthan Royals (RR) outclassed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash on Friday. With two fifties in four innings, including a career-best unbeaten 81, wicketkeeper-batter Jurel is relishing his new role at No. 3 but insists it is “just a number” and that he is ready to bat wherever the team needs him.
Coming in at a tricky 21/1 in just the second over of a 202-run chase, Jurel anchored RR’s innings with a composed 43-ball knock, guiding them to a comfortable win over defending champions RCB in just 18 overs and extending their unbeaten run to four matches.
“I was batting at No. 5-6 last year. At the end, you have to win the match. The management showed faith in me to promote me to No. 3,” Dhruv Jurel was quoted as saying at the post-match press conference on Friday. “It’s just a number, I would say. I don’t want a particular number. My character is like that… Even if you give me No. 8-9, I will happily contribute, even if it means hitting the winning six. Wherever the team needs me, I’m there.”
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Batting after the explosive duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and before West Indies big-hitter Shimron Hetmyer is a challenging role, but Jurel has fully justified the move.
Such has been his impact that Rajasthan’s top three dominate the run charts this season, with Sooryavanshi (200) leading, followed by Jaiswal (183) and Jurel (176). The 15-year-old prodigy Sooryavanshi once again provided a blistering start, smashing 78 off just 26 balls to make the chase virtually one-sided during the powerplay.
“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, you’re like, cricket is not easy (like Sooryavanshi makes it seem). After five overs, we were like 65-70 (73) runs. And in that sixth over, Abhinandan (Singh) bowled to me, and I was just telling myself, ‘I have to cash in, I have to cash in, I have to cash in’,” he said of the 24-run over that included two fours and two sixes.
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“When you go in, he’s hitting the ball so well. And then there is pressure too… that he is playing so well, I have to do something too. Again, it’s also easy because you feel that if he is playing so well, so can I,” Jurel said.
“It’s a bit of both. All you need is the first boundary to feel a bit relaxed.” “It was my highest score. When Vaibhav got out, he had already made the chase easy, and after he got out, the required run rate was just 6-7. So my job was just to get it done.”
