Dhruv Jurel on Sunday said he was not under any ‘pressure’ despite failing to notch up a fifty in his last seven innings, and thanked head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill for giving him confidence during the lean phase.
Jurel made a 68-ball 51 on the second day of the first Test, playing an important hand to lead India to a formidable 460 for nine against Sri Lanka here. “There was, honestly, no pressure. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to represent India. That’s the only privilege that I play for,” Jurel said in the post-day press conference.
“So whenever I speak to the captain or head coach, they always tell me what to do, what the situation is. So, tell me to play accordingly. There is no personal milestone that I look for before batting. I just go there and do what the team needs,” he said.
Jurel had played at this same venue for India A in the lead-up to the Test series, and the middle-order batter said the experience stood him in good stead here. “We came here 10 days before. We practised in Colombo and before that played for India ‘A’, and we had four to five sessions. It’s all about batting on these kinds of surfaces as much as I can. It improves my batting, knowing the environment, and the situation. It’s really helpful,” he noted.