Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan made their debuts against England© BCCI/Sportzpics
India’s 5-match Test series against England gave the team management an opportunity to try out some of the new generation stars. The tastes of Sarfaraz Khan, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Deep AkashAnd Dhruv Jurel, all made their debuts in the series and produced performances worthy of cementing their place in the team, to say the least. But we now learn that some of those starts didn’t come from the head coach. Rahul Dravidor captain Rohit Sharma. Instead, it was the head coach Ajit Agarkar which pushed the team management to select some of these players.
According to a report, it was Agarkar who suggested Dhruv Jurel’s name for the wicketkeeper position to coach Dravid and captain Rohit. The Indian team tried KS Bharat behind the stumps for the first two matches, but the wicketkeeper’s batting failed to impress much. But Dhruv, upon his arrival in the team, left an impressive impression both as a keeper and a striker.
“It was Agarkar who suggested Jurel’s name. The team management didn’t have much faith in him as he was still a rookie. Choosing a youngster who hasn’t had much exposure to the red ball at the highest level immediately into the Indian team for an important series like England was always going to be a brave move, but Agarkar had seen enough to vouch for the youngster,” Hindustan Times quoted a BCCI source.
Earlier, after the conclusion of the Dharamsala Test, Dravid himself had revealed that Agarkar was the one who pushed him and Rohit to select some of the uncapped players in the team.
“A big shout out to Ajit and his team as well. A lot of young guys coming in… as a coach and as a captain, we don’t get to see them a lot. We don’t see as many domestic cricket. like Ajit and his team of selectors do. They pushed us. They challenged us to select some of these youngsters and they came here and played. It’s not easy to be a selector. You always get criticism but a big pat on the back to Ajit and his team,” Dravid had said in an interview with Jio Cinema.
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