England’s response to the mammoth run chase of 557 set up by India on the back of some formidable knocks from the bat of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Sarfaraz Khan, has not started the way England would have expected as the visitors have already lost their 1st innings hero Ben Duckett for just 4 runs off 15 balls through a terrific pick-up and run-out attempt from debutant wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel.
A solid throw from the hands of Mohammed Siraj was picked up very well by Dhruv Jurel who made a semi-diving effort to remove the dangerous Duckett from the middle to give India a positive start to their defense and aim to double their lead in the 5-match Test series.
Watch: Dhruv Jurel’s masterclass leads to Ben Duckett’s run out
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Ben Duckett had pushed the ball towards the mid-wicket region and instantly called for a single without noticing that Siraj was ready with the throw. Duckett’s partner Zak Crawley who departed moments after the former’s run-out, saw that he could be at the danger end of things at the striker’s end.
Crawley would raise hit bat to say no but Duckett had reached the middle part of the pitch by then and it was no going back after that. He failed to recover the distance in time as Dhruv Jurel reached the stumps, collected the ball calmly and just dived forward, pushing his hands back to remove the bells and that was the end of Duckett’s inning.
While explaining the run-out attempt from Jurel, former Indian wicket keeper batsman Parthiv Patek who is duty with the Jio Cinema for commentary of this series, claimed that its never easy for a keeper to collect a ball that lands a few meters off and appreciated the youngster for his contribution with the gloves.
When chasing a target like that, there’s no way one can literally give away their wicket like that. And perhaps for the first time in this series have Duckett and Crawley failed to put up a 50+ partnership for the first wicket. The duo were crucial behind the Three Lions’ blistering Bazball kind of starts but now the visitors will be having their fingers crossed that Ollie Pope and Joe Root specifically steady their ship.
England have been reduced to 2 wickets for just 18 runs before Tea time and we are not even 10 overs into the 4th and final innings of the Rajkot Test.
But the one who made it possible for India to get off to a good start in their defense was Dhruv Jurel. Although he hasn’t received that much hype as Sarfaraz Khan did but Jurel has had a memorable debut match so far. In the 1st innings, the 22-year-old provided the finishing touches to India’s total of 445.
The Agra born cricketer might have missed out on his debut match half-century by just 4 runs but he showed that he can be entrusted by the team management going forward, especially when there’s scarcity of a quality wicket-keeper batsman. The 4th innings has resumed with Pope and Root on the crease.