Dhruv Jurel interview: 'MS Dhoni told me to just watch the ball and not think about pressure'

He might still be very young and early in his professional cricketing career, but 22-year-old Dhruv Jurel seems to have made a name for himself with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).

Jurel, vice captain of India’s 2020 U19 World Cup team, has now established himself as a finisher at RR after some vital cameos.

The wicketkeeper-batter came into limelight in the IPL with a 15-ball 32 against Punjab Kings (PBKS), that eventually went in vain, but continued to produce those finishing touches on certain occasions.

Jurel ended his IPL 2023 campaign with not a lot of runs (152 runs from 13 matches), but it is that fearless approach and power-hitting abilities that helped him play the finishers’ role in the Sanju Samson-led side.

Firstpost caught up with the Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer in Dehradun, on the sidelines of the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals that was held at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy recently. Dhruv spoke on his conversations with his idol MS Dhoni, his ambitions and several other aspects. Excerpts:

You’ve previously said that MS Dhoni is your cricketing idol. Can you recollect a few conversations with him?

Everybody knows that I have had an interaction with the great MS Dhoni (smiles). I got a chance to meet him last year as well, but I just clicked one photo with him and that’s it. When I met him for the first time last year, he was sitting at a five feet distance from me, and I was staring at him for five minutes. I did not realise, I asked myself ‘am I dreaming or what’? I pinched myself, and said ‘it’s not a dream, he’s sitting in front of you’.

Making IPL Debut as an Impact Player