India's Dhruv Jurel.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: His Kargil war veteran dad was mourning the loss of his own father when a 14-year-old Dhruv Jurel had to leave unaccompanied from his Agra home to knock on the doors of a cricket academy in Noida.
The year was 2014 and Jurel's father Nem Chand had only recently come around to accepting his cricketing ambitions but had to stay put at home while his teenaged son began the difficult journey.
The academy where Jurel landed belonged to Noida's most famous cricket coach Phool Chand, who was taken aback by the absence of any guardian with the boy.
"Before I could ask anything, the boy said, 'Sir my name is Dhruv Jurel and please take me in your academy', he requested," the coach, who saw a quiet confidence in the teenager, recalled in an interview to PTI.
That afternoon seemed vividly etched in Phool Chand's mind as he basked in the glory of being the formative coach of India's newest Test cricketer, number 312 to be precise.
The 23-year-old also gave a good account of himself with a gritty 46 off 104 balls against England in the ongoing third Test in Rajkot.
"I didn't see any parent accompanying him. I thought may be he is a local boy from Noida but then he said, 'Sir, I have come all alone from Agra and the friend who had promised to arrange my accommodation at his house isn't picking up my call'," Phool Chand narrated.
His first instinct was to call Jurel's father, a retired Havildar in who fought in the Kargil war in 1999 before taking voluntary retirement from service in 2008.
"I wanted to know if the kid had run away from home to play cricket and I asked him to give his father's number.
"When his father picked up, he confirmed that he wanted to come but it was his grandfather's tehrvi (the ceremony conducted to mark the final day of mourning after a death) and the kid told his dad, "don't worry I will take a train from Agra to Delhi".
"Seeing a 13-year-old travel alone, I knew this boy was special," said Phool Chand.
Jurel's progression to the senior team has been a gradual one. He played age group cricket for Uttar Pradesh, before becoming vice-captain of the India Under-19 team that finished runners-up in the 2020 World Cup in South Africa.
He was subsequently bought by Rajasthan Royals in the 2022 IPL auction and made his debut for the team last year.
On Thursday, as Jurel was handed his Test cap by Dinesh Karthik, Phool Chand found it hard to contain his emotions.
"For a teacher, can there be a bigger day than seeing his student excel? He is the first among my students who will play Test cricket and second after pacer Shivam Mavi to play international cricket," Phool Chand, who runs his academy in Sector 71, Noida, said.
With no place to live initially, Jurel was lodged in a hostel by Phool Chand.
"In my academy, if you have merit it won't matter if you are a rickshaw-puller's son or a minister's son, you will be given every opportunity to make the grade. Dhruv was very hardworking from an early age and also had talent.
"So it was not difficult for him to clear each level with his performances," the coach added.
It is never easy for boys coming from lower middle class families but for Jurel, his mother pawned her gold jewellery to get him his first cricket kit. But that was much before he came to Noida.
Once there, Jurel worked hard to develop a sound temperament and what helped in that was the sheer number of matches and tournaments that he played around Delhi NCR.
"...the more he played, the better he got. I remember there was a tournament called Vaibhav Sharma Memorial and I had got a club slot for Dhruv but since he was young, they were playing him lower down the order.
"I went to the owner of the team and requested him to give one chance to Dhruv to bat up the order and he relented. Dhruv made 86 off 38 balls to win the final for his club."
The coach is confident of Jurel's success at the highest level in the times to come.
"I had messaged him early in the morning that, 'Is din ko yaadgar banana' (make this day memorable), and he said, 'Main apna best dunga, sir' (I will give my best, sir)."
Given the composure he showed, Jurel kept his word to the coach.