It isn’t easy for a batter in Test cricket. It is the only format where bowlers have more say, hence, batting at any position comes with its own set of challenges.
Be it opening the innings, playing in the middle-order or batting lower down the order, runs don’t come easily. As cliched as it sounds, it has to be earned. At the lower middle-order, a specialist batter has to farm the strike cleverly, not to expose the tail-enders, and also look for scoring opportunities. Well, Dhruv Jurel aced the art of batting with the tail on Day 3 of the fourth and penultimate Test between India and England at the JSCA International stadium, in Ranchi, on Sunday (Feb 25).
The day’s play kicked off with India on the backfoot. They were precariously placed at 219-7, at stumps on Day 2, trailing England’s 353 by 134 runs. The keeper-batter Jurel (30*) went to stumps accompanied by spinner Kuldeep Yadav (17*).
The duo got together at 177-7 and looked comfortable to weather the storm in the last hour of Saturday evening (Feb 24). However, they had a herculean task to get India closer to England’s 353 on thetwo stitched a priceless 76-run eighth-wicket stand.
The youngster, who was the vice-captain in Yash Dhull-led India’s U-19 World Cup triumph in 2022, intelligently handled the pacers with his partner being comfortable against spin. The right-hander oozed a lot of assurance with his footwork, knowing when to go ahead and when to stay back.
He anticipated James Anderson’s short balls and gave a good account of his defence. By no means was he just defending. He latched onto all scoring opportunities — targetting spin duo of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir — with some well-timed shots, not overhitting anything. He also went the aerial route as the ball comfortably reached the stands.
Against the run of play, Kuldeep (28) was removed by Anderson as India got reduced to 253-8. Just then, Jurel was joined by debutant pacer Akash Deep.