How mother's gold chains turned gold for India's new child Dhruv Jurel

Dhruv Jurel made his Test debut for India against England in the third Test in Rajkot.

Dhruv Jurel plays a shot on his way to his 46 against England.

Rajkot: Dhruv Jurel has a Test debut to remember. Although he missed out on a well-deserved maiden Test fifty, Jurel's 46 off 104 balls against the likes of James Anderon, Mark Wood, Tom Hartley and the likes proved that the Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper is here to stay. More importantly, India got another middle-order and goalkeeper option in Jurel. Jurel came in at Ravindra Jadeja's fall and joined senior pro Ravichandran Ashwin as the duo shared a 77-run stand off 175 balls to defy the English. However, he was dismissed when he tried to dismiss Rehan Ahmed on day 2.

The 22-year-old, who celebrated his birthday last month, was in good form ahead of his visit to India. He was among the points for Uttar Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy before hitting a pair of fifties for India A against South Africa A and England Lions.

However, his journey was not smooth compared to many of his peers. Jurel's journey with cricket started at renowned cricket coach Phool Chand's academy in Noida. Born into an army family, Dhruv's father Nem Singh Jurel never wanted his son to practice cricket and instead follow in his footsteps or get a government job. But Dhruv was determined to make it big in cricket.

Mother's sacrifice

The teenage boy even threatened to run away at the age of 14 after his father refused to buy him a cricket bat. Unable to see his son's dreams fade away, Dhruv's mother came to the rescue when she sold her gold chain to meet his cricket expenses.

Thereafter, fortunes started to change for Dhruv as he was a consistent run-scorer in age-level cricket in Agra. But the options there were limited. His mother came to the rescue again. Looking for better opportunities and to avoid frequent travel between Agra and Noida, she decided to move to Noida with Dhruv.

His mother's sacrifices were rewarded. He was the vice-captain of the Indian team at the U-19 World Cup in the West Indies, where the Boys in Blue lost to Bangladesh in the final. The money continued to flow into the Jurel family when he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League last year.

Say hello to #TeamIndia's Test debutants 👋

Congratulations Dhruv Jurel & Sarfaraz Khan 👏👏

Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/FM0hVG5X8M #TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/OVPtvLXH0V

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 15, 2024

Although he got limited opportunities to bat in 13 matches, his 32 off 15 balls as an 'Impact Player' against Punjab Kings earned praise from Indian cricket's premier. Seeing his son's success, Nem Singh was forced to take a step back in his stance on Dhruv's career and went to an IPL match in Jaipur. “They came to watch an IPL match in Jaipur. Dad turned to mom and said 'tere sone ki chain wasool ho gayi aaj' (Your gold chain has been repaid),” recalled Dhruv as quoted by Hindustan Times.