After Dhruv Jurel’s stunning century in the second Test against Sri Lanka, former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has claimed that Jurel is the second-best in the team against fast bowling, behind only KL Rahul. He added that the wicketkeeper-batter uses his feet well and has an excellent front-foot and back-foot game too. Jurel remained unbeaten on 115 off 177 balls as India declared their first innings at 503/9 in Colombo on Monday, August 24. Sri Lanka ended the day
at 8/2 in their first innings, trailing the visitors by 495 runs as well.

During a discussion on Sony Sports, Pujara said, “Dhruv Jurel’s footwork is extremely precise. He plays good shots on the front foot, uses his feet, and moves well onto the back foot. In my opinion, in this team, after KL Rahul, he plays the best against fast bowlers. He has a vast range of shots. He can play the sweep shot, reverse sweep, and big shots by using his feet.”

“The Indian team had seen his talent long ago. They showed faith in him, but that performance wasn’t coming. His performance wasn’t as good as the backing he was getting. So there was slight pressure on him. You can remove that pressure only by performing. He performed in the last match. Ultimately, when you are a talented player, you need to perform,” Pujara again shared.

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However, former India batter Mohammad Kaif praised Dhruv Jurel for doing well.

“He didn’t get beaten at all. The ball didn’t hit his bat’s outside edge at all. All balls hit the middle of his bat. It shows how organized a batter he is. The Indian team is searching for players who can bat well against spin. Why do we lose in India? It was because we weren’t able to play spin,” he said.

“I understand he plays fast bowling well, but against spin, he played shots off the back foot, used his feet, brought out the reverse sweep, and he has the hunger to score runs. There was a lot of pressure when he went to bat in Galle. If he had gotten out there, he might not have gotten a chance to play this Test match, and he showed dominance there. His batting came against the new ball yesterday,” Kaif concluded.