“I promise this is just the start”.

Dhruv Jurel’s Instagram post last week, a heart-tugging snapshot of a video call with his parents, was a salute to their sacrifices in his journey so far. Jurel was beaming at them in India’s orange practice kit, a hue that could soon turn white.

Days away from his 23rd birthday, Jurel received his life’s biggest news yet: he had earned a surprise spot in India’s Test squad against the touring England side. 

Part of the India A side facing England Lions at that time, Jurel admitted he was “shocked”. When his father enquired on the phone, “Which Indian team?”, Jurel happily replied: “The same one in which Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma play”.

It’s been a rather rapid thrust into the upper stratosphere: Jurel’s 16th first-class appearance could be a home Test cap. When he broke into the Uttar Pradesh Ranji team in February 2022, India’s wicketkeeping spot was out of bounds for everyone not named Rishabh Pant. A lot has transpired since, but even as a backup, Jurel is the chosen one from a long list.

It was last year that a breakthrough IPL season, often the route to national contention, gave Jurel column space in newspapers. It’s when he told Wisden his story so far.

“I always wanted to join the army because I was interested in the Special Forces,” Jurel says. “I wanted to crack the National Defence Academy.” His father, Nem Singh, served during the 1999 India-Pakistan Kargil War.

As an introvert in the small town of Agra, known across the globe as the home of the Taj Mahal, Jurel grew up on an appetite of army and war-themed films. Basketball was a massive hobby.

“My height is 5’10’’ but I still love to play. It’s always my dream to dunk – I only take lay-ups!” 

His other love was cricket, a passion shared by his family. For the impressionable ten-year-old, India’s 2011 World Cup win properly sucked him into the sport and introduced him to his cricketing idol. 

“That MS Dhoni six… the gesture after hitting the six,” Jurel recalls. “It was like pfff…” A gesture with his hands makes clear how his head exploded that day.

As is often the case with newly inducted academy players, wicketkeeping wasn’t his first choice. He started off as a seamer, but the lack of any flow in his run-up forced his coach to once remark: “You’re shit at bowling! Just quit bowling!” 

He then switched from leg-spin to off-spin but found his true calling as a batter. A 21-ball century in a school tournament would have been a big deal back then, but Jurel remains modest. “It was an okay-ish level. I am not going to brag that it had good bowlers!” 

His agility was a standout trait on the ground – and he loved fielding – urging a coach to wonder why he couldn’t be a keeper. 

“There are wicketkeepers, but there are only wicketkeepers,” his coach told him about his age-group. “But they are not good batters”.

“He changed my life. Wicketkeeping changed my life.”

“Can you give me a chance?”

Like many middle-class Indians, though, Jurel’s parents warned him against the perils of taking up the sport professionally. 

“I asked my father ‘Can you give me a chance?’,” Jurel recalls. “He straightaway said no. ‘You have to do something for the nation’ he said. ‘If you take up a government job, it will be very good for us, and for you. It will secure your life.’

But Jurel still took the plunge, even if it meant keeping it a secret from his father for a while. “Let’s take a chance, let’s be brave,” he remembers telling himself. 

Sacrifices were made to carve space for Jurel’s career. His mother sold her gold jewellery, often the last layer of reserve finances, to help him buy his first kit. 

When Jurel realised that he was a cut above the rest, he decided to move out of Agra to Noida, in search of tougher competition.

“‘You have to go with him because he can’t survive alone’,” he recalls his father telling his mother. “Dad used to live in Agra alone. When he would come home from duty, he would make his own food because there was no mother [to help].”

It bore fruit less than a decade later when Jurel captained India’s U19 team, getting a taste of the prestigious blue kit. At the 2020 U19 World Cup, his batting role was limited, but his dexterity and glovework were clearly above his wicketkeeping peers.

“Am I in a dream?”

A distinct visual memory from my time covering that tournament is a sharp-eyed Jurel leaping and diving in practice, his athletic frame led by quick moving hands covered in green-and-white gloves. In the final, one of his stumpings even drew parallels to Dhoni.

“He inspires me a lot,” Jurel says of Dhoni. “When I look at him – what kind of aura he has created in the last 18-20 years… it’s untouchable! I want to be like him, not 100 per cent – even if I am five per cent of MS Dhoni, I am more than happy.”

As part of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, Jurel got a chance to rub shoulders with the great man himself. When he met Dhoni last year, Jurel couldn’t hold back his wonderment. 

“I was just staring at him for five minutes. I didn’t know he was literally sitting in front of me. I was pinching myself – ‘Am I in a dream or is it real?’”

 

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When the fanboying ended, Jurel had a long chat to understand the mentality behind Dhoni’s success as a finisher. Dhoni explained how finishers always think they have a certain kind of pressure on them – it could be a figure in their head, say striking at 150 or 200.

Dhoni advised Jurel to remember that a bowler also carries a similar pressure in their minds, and one needs to play on that. “Keep calm and try to hit straight.” All of it might sound too simple, but it’s what makes him who he is. “I have tried it, and it works!” chuckles Jurel.

Jurel spent his first season entirely on the Rajasthan Royals bench. But there was not even a semblance of regret. When his debut eventually came last year, it turned out to be sizzling. Batting at No.8 as an Impact Player, Jurel walked in when the Royals needed 74 in five overs. He cracked 32 off just 15 balls – they fell short by five runs, but Jurel got his long-awaited adulation.

Further into the tournament, he became a cameo-specialist, drumming out similar knocks of 34 in 15 balls and 34 in 16.

The wait was worth it.

“Everyone asks me: ‘You didn’t get a chance to play [in 2022]’,” Jurel says. “Were you upset? I always felt – I was very excited to share the dressing room. The amount of experience I will get is everything for me. You can learn by sitting and observing.

“The 2022 season was the best season of my life because after that I got to learn about the game, tactics, management – everything.”

 

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One fine feature of Jurel so far has been his versatility: he can bat just about anywhere. In the IPL, his short cameos came at No.6, 7 or 8, but he opened in Uttar Pradesh T20 League just months later. In first-class cricket, he’s essayed both roles. 

“We are living in an era of fitness enthusiasts”

It typifies the modern-day batter, forever evolving and exploring. Jurel possesses a steady hitting frame but is comfortable in conventionality during the powerplay. The drives and cuts are a regular feature, the balance remains intact flicking anything off his pads. Gifted with great reflexes, his reactions form a big part of how quickly he adjusts to deliveries. At the backend of the innings, his wrists come into play a lot more, staying steady and lofting deliveries in the V, but also not shying from ramping and scooping the ball if need be.

Extremely big on fitness, Jurel understands the role of maximising his body’s potential to elevate his game. His gym-grown biceps and abs – which find regular presence on his Instagram feed, by the way – aren’t merely cosmetic.

“We are living in an era of fitness enthusiasts … Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, you learn a lot. When I spoke to Kohli, he told me: ‘You don’t always have to think about hitting fours and sixes. You have to concentrate on where the gaps are – you can make runs with good ones and good twos. Your fitness will take the game to another level.’”

Hailed as someone with high T20 potential, the IPL’s cameo specialist is now on the cusp of a potential Test debut. The transition is powered by his dual progression as a batter and wicketkeeper. With KL Rahul not keeping, it’s a direct toss-up between Jurel and KS Bharat for the England Tests.

For those who have seen him, he is compact, nimble and extremely fast, making him suitable for the role on turning Indian pitches, where reflexes can play a much bigger role. When not keeping, he can be just as comfortable at short leg or the outfield, chirpy wherever he is. The batting is an ever-growing curve.

Opening the batting, Jurel displayed his big-innings verse when he slammed 249 against Nagaland in December 2022. Last year, in a belated entry for Central Zone, Jurel easily stood among the ruins. Against eventual winners West Zone in Alur, he stroked 46 when none of the other batters, barring Rinku Singh (48) could cross 12.

More recently, he starred for India A against South Africa A on a tricky surface in Benoni, top-scoring with 69 in a line-up of India Test hopefuls.

“You have to get out of your comfort zone”

Jurel is driven by the idea of becoming a three-format player. Inside the Royals academy in Talegaon, Jurel spent the entire off-season honing different avatars of his batting. Along with Zubin Bharucha [RR’s director of performance], he worked on switching mindsets from red to white ball. “In a span of four-five months, it changed my whole batting and the way I think,” he says.

“I played as an opener last season [in first-class cricket]. I am playing six-seven at IPL. It’s quite difficult, playing with the new ball and then old ball in the IPL and you have to score at at a good strike rate too”. 

For one, Jurel worked on his bat speed. “From 15 yards, the guy is throwing at full pace,” Jurel explains one of the drills. “When I first did the drill, it was very difficult and I wasn’t comfortable. But you have to get out of your comfort zone to be better.” He also batted with a heavy bat and tuned up his game by facing wet balls on cement.

Jurel doesn’t want to be pigeonholed in one format and seeks inspiration from Kohli in his attempt to discover his true potential. 

“When you see legends like Kohli, they play three formats – how? He is playing white-ball today, after two weeks he will be playing red-ball. It’s a taboo everyone’s carrying – they just target a player as a red-ball or white-ball player. You have to be a three-format player,” insists Jurel.

Test debut against England or not, Jurel is likely to wear an India kit soon. His appetite to learn is immense, the work rate electric, his cricketing skill-set multifaceted, and he is in no mood to forget his roots.

“He is a fantastic young man,” Kumar Sangakkara, Royals’ director of cricket, said after his call-up. “He is a really good player who has worked really hard to get where he is. He understands pressure.”

It might not be exactly how his father did, but Jurel can serve the nation in his own way if he continues the adapt and excel the way he has. This is just the start.