On Thursday, November 6, wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel scored an unbeaten 132 off 175 with 12 fours and four sixes, to help India A get out of trouble in the second unofficial Test of the two-match series against South Africa A. At the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru, the first day firmly belonged to him, who showed his class with the bat, getting to the fourth first-class hundred amid the carnage at the other end.
After South Africa A captain Marques Ackermann put India A into bat first on a spicy looking pitch for the pacers, the hosts got off to a tough start as opener Abhimanyu Easwaran was dismissed without troubling the scorers by Tshepo Moreki. Indian Test stars KL Rahul and Sai
Sudharshan bided time on a difficult pitch for batters before being dismissed in their 10s while Devdutt Padikkal didn’t last long at the crease either, becoming Tiaan van Vuuren’s second scalp.
Dhruv Jurel arrived to the middle when India A were 59/4 in first session on day one
With India A finding themselves at 59/4 in the first session on day one, Dhruv Jurel, who is a part of the Indian Test setup, walked to the middle alongside an aggressive Rishabh Pant, the captain, who was dismissed at the start of the second session by Moreki after scoring 24 off 20 with three fours and a six. Jurel shared a 33-run stand with Harsh Dubey before the latter and Akash Deep lost their wickets in quick succession, leaving India A at 126/7 in 36.4 overs.
What followed was an exceptional partnership between Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav of 79 runs in which the latter batted out 88 balls for his 20 runs, allowing the recognised batter to take charge. After Kuldeep Yadav was run out, Jurel took the attack to the South Africa A bowlers with some assist from Mohammed Siraj with 15 off 31, to drag India A to 255 all out in 77.1 overs when Prasidh Krishna was dismissed for a duck and the stumps were called on day one.
