At 177-7 on day 2, it seemed all was dead and buried for Team India as they looked prime to surrender a handy 100-plus lead to England with Shoaib Bashir plucking away wickets for the visitors in Ranchi. However, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav (28 off 131 balls) had other plans for Ben Stokes-led England. (IND Vs ENG Blog| Scorecard| Streaming)
On the morning of day 3, it seemed England will make use of the morning conditions and blow away India but Yadav and Jurel had other ideas. Jurel's career-best knock of 90 helped India to 307 in their first innings with Bashir picking his first-ever five-wicket-haul in First-Class cricket with the deficit now just 46 runs.
Advertisement
Resuming at 219/7, Jurel grew in confidence as his overnight partner helped India take the total over 250. Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav (28) kept England at bay for the large part of the first session on the third day after doing so on the final session of the second day evening.
For the eighth wicket, Jurel and Kuldeep put on 76 vital runs while consuming 202 deliveries to settle the Indian nerves, after the hosts had lost a chunk of their batting line-up without any significant contributions on day 2.
Advertisement
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar called Jurely 'another MSD' in the making.
"Of course he has batted well, but his keeping, his work behind the stumps has been equally brilliant. Just by looking at his game awareness, I want to say that he is another MS Dhoni in the making. I know there can never be another MSD but you know the presence of mind that he has, MSD also when he started, it was that. And Jurel has that game awareness. Street-smart cricketer," Gavaskar said.
Jurel surely batted like a 'street-smart' cricketer down the order. Just as England were getting away with the Test, Jurel's handy knock has revitalised the hosts and the ardent cricket fans could have a treat on their hands in the coming sessions.
Brief scores:
England 353 lead India 303 in 103.2 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 73, Dhruv Jurel 90; Shoaib Bashir 5/119, Tom Hartley 3/68) by 46 runs.
