The Wicketkeeper Batter Dhruv Jurel was named the Player of the Match for his heroic deeds on the fourth test of England’s tour of India 2024 at Ranchi.
Dhruv Jurel on winning the fourth test
Dhruv Jurel earned his maiden call-up from the Indian team for the ongoing series who have been impressive in his appearances so far. He was benched in the first two tests and made his debut during the third Test in Rajkot.
During his debut, he smashed 46 runs and did not get the chance to bat in the second innings of the match. Eventually, India won the match by 434 runs.
During the fourth test, he was impressive with his batting and helped the side to recover from early dismissals. India lost seven wickets for scoring 177 runs. His knock of 90 helped the side to recover in response to England’s 353 runs.
Coming to the match, England scored 353 runs in their first innings while India scored 219 runs for 7 wickets by the end of day 02.
Batting first, England struggled after losing 5 wickets for 112 runs before the lunch break of day 01. Akash Deep who made his test debut, dismissed England top order batters to create havoc in the batting line-up.
But soon the visitors got back into the competition after Joe Root smashed his 31st test century on day 01 of the fourth test. His century brought back England to score 302 runs losing 6 wickets by the end of the day 01.
He becomes the first-ever batter to score 10 test centuries against India. While resuming the match on day 02, England concluded their first innings after scoring 353 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja had a four-wicket haul while Akash Deep picked three wickets. Siraj bowled 18 overs to pick 2 wickets.
India started their first innings when Rohit Sharma was dismissed by James Anderson in the third over. India scored 34 runs losing one wicket before the lunch break on day 02.
Shubman Gill was sent back after scoring 38 runs in the first innings at Ranchi. With the middle order dismissed at regular intervals, Dhruv Jurel concluded the day standing unbeaten with 30 runs in the match.
Kuldeep Yadav was with 17* runs at the end of day 02 India finally scored 307 runs in the first innings.
England scored 145 runs in the second inning where India needed 192 runs to win the match. Zak Crawley was the only scorer to cross fifty and Jonny Bairstow scored 30 runs in the second innings. Ravichandran Ashwin had a five-wicket haul in the second innings and helped the side.
In the second innings, after the dismissal of Yashasvi, India struggled against England bowlers as they went from 84/1 to 120/5. Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel joined forces to lead the side to victory.
Speaking at the post-match conference, Dhruv Jurel opened up on his batting game plan saying, “I play according to the demands of the situation. In the 1st innings, we needed to get runs as well, we knew we had to bat last and so any runs would be vital.”
“I was involved in some partnerships, so credit does go to all those who stayed and added runs. I just saw the ball and then reacted to it, not thinking too far ahead.”
“The conversation was good (with Shubman Gill in the 2nd innings), we just broke it into 10-run sets and started developing the partnership,” he concluded.
India sealed victory in the series 3-1 after winning the fourth test at Ranchi.
India and England will be playing their fifth and final match of the test series starting March 07 at HPCA Stadium.
