Image Credit- BCCI
Dhruv Jurel has only been called up for his first
India call-up for the first two Test matches against England for a week, but
already he has stated what he hopes to take away from the experience: how to
strengthen his mental toughness to handle the pressure and criticism that come
with being a top player.
“The most important learning that I’d want to
take away from this series is how to develop the mental fortitude that is
needed to survive at the highest level,” Jurel told Rajasthan Royals’
official website. “A lot of players get call-ups, but only a few are able
to sustain themselves.”
“Once you’re in the public eye on a much bigger
stage, you are constantly judged on your performances. So I really want to know
how these players deal with bad days, how they face criticism and
pressure,” Jurel said. “I am going to try and absorb it all.”
In his two unofficial Test matches for India A in
South Africa, Jurel scored a valiant 69 runs in the second game after going for
a duck in the first. He received the news of his first call-up while he was
participating in a tour match against the England Lions.
“I was shocked. I was with the India A team, we
were playing against the England Lions in a two-day match,” Jurel said.
“The news broke late in the night and when I
found out, I immediately called my father to tell him and his first question
was, ‘Which Indian team? Aren’t you already playing for one of them?’. I said,
‘The same one in which Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma play’. He couldn’t believe
it. I couldn’t believe it too.”
Jurel will again share the dressing room with Yashasvi
Jaiswal, with whom he was team-mates in the Under-19 World Cup as well as for
Rajasthan Royals.
“Yashasvi and I go a long way back,” Jurel
said. “We played together in our U19 days and it has always been a lot of
fun. I am looking forward to sharing this experience with him too.
“He was one of the first ones to text me and
congratulate, saying ‘Well-deserved bhai, very happy for you’.”