DTVHINDI
Team India wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel has shared memories of his first conversation with Rohit Sharma during a training session ahead of his debut Test series against England earlier this year.
The wicketkeeper-batsman was included in Team India for the first time for India’s home Test series against England. During this series, he got a chance to share the dressing room and interact with the Indian captain. However, Jurel revealed that he could not muster the courage to talk to Rohit and it was Rohit Sharma who came forward to talk to Jurel first.
Dhruv Jurel spoke about his conversation with Rohit Sharma
In an interview with Jatin Sapru on YouTube, Dhruv Jurel said, “My eyes met Rohit Bhaiya many times, but I could not muster up the courage to talk to him. Then he called out to me, ‘Come here!’. Then he said, ‘What happened? Everything is fine? You have come because you have the strength, you have potential. Relax, be carefree. If you want to hit the first ball, hit it. Just be 100 percent sure and hit it’. That was the conversation and it happened before I had even made my debut.”
Jurel, who plays for Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket, said the mood in the Indian dressing room is much lighter than in his state team. He also recalled the incident when he was hit on the shoulder by India’s throwdown specialist Raghu in the nets and revealed what Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer told him after that.
Jurel said, “There are songs playing in the Indian dressing room. This was completely new for me, because the atmosphere in the state dressing room is not like that. It is very strict there. I was facing Raghu bhai in the nets and I hit a very good drive to him. On the very next ball, he hit a big bouncer on my shoulder. Then Axar and Iyer came to shake hands with me. I was surprised why they were shaking hands with me. They just said, welcome to Indian cricket!”
