Dhruv Jurel forged a gritty score to rescue his team from a precarious position on the opening day of the second unofficial Australia A vs India A Test in Melbourne on Thursday.
Jurel, who was retained by the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the mega auction for Indian Premier League 2025, top-scored for India A with 80 from 186 balls at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His fighting knock, which included six fours and two sixes, helped India A register a respectable 161 in their first innings.
The wicketkeeper-batter was part of the Indian cricket team in the recently concluded New Zealand Test series at home and joined India A, along with KL Rahul, ahead of the start of the second unofficial Test against Australia A.
Batting first, India A looked in dire straits after being reduced to 11/4 in just the third over. Jurel, who replaced Ishan Kishan in the playing XI, joined Devdutt Padikkal in the middle to prevent further damage.
The pair bided their time to see off the initial spell of Australian internationals Michael Neser and Scott Boland. Jurel was watchful and scored his first boundary off the 20th ball he faced in the ninth over of the innings.
Jurel and Padikkal added 53 runs for the fifth wicket before Padikkal was dismissed. Once set, the 23-year-old Jurel opened up by scoring three more boundaries in his 39-run association with Nitish Kumar Reddy.
But India A were dealt a blow when Nitish Kumar and Tanush Kotian were dismissed in the same over as the score read 103/7. Jurel looked unperturbed at the other end and brought up his fifty with a hooked six over fine leg.
With wickets falling continuously, the wicketkeeper-batter upped the scoring rate with two fours in the 40th over. Jurel further added 36 runs with Prasidh Krishna before being the ninth man to be dismissed in the India A innings.
Padikkal scored 26 off 55 balls while Neser was the pick among the Australia A bowlers with figures of 4/27 with Beau Webster picking up 3/19.
India A lost the first match of the two-Test series by seven wickets in Mackay on November 3. Jurel is also part of the Indian Test team that will play Australia in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy from November 22.
