Sourav Ganguly openly slams Sunil Gavaskar for comparing Dhruv Jurel with MS Dhoni

Team India’s 24-year-old wicket-keeper batsman Dhruv Jurel who is currently playing his debut Test series against England, has drawn tons of appreciation for his performance. So much so that former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar labeled him as the next MS Dhoni in the making.

However, former India captain and the king of off-side Sourav Ganguly feels some other way. After seeing Dhruv Jurel play out a man of the match-winning knocks across innings in the 4th Test at Ranchi, Sunil Gavaskar was obliged to call him the next MS Dhoni. Jurel had smacked a very important 90 runs in the 1st innings which kept India away from what could have been an embarrassing loss.

Then in the 2nd innings, Jurel scored an unbeaten 36* while chasing down England’s ask of 192 runs as the target. He partnered with number 3 batter Shubman Gill who also remained 52* with Jurel scoring the winning runs to triple India’s lead in the series.

What did Sunil Gavaskar say?

Sunil Gavaskar was thoroughly impressed with the way Dhruv Jurel acted in his first 2 international Test matches. The 74-year-old took note of his solid technique which also includes a great defensive mechanism. He also claimed that Jurel contains brilliant game awareness and that his ability against spin bowlers is very great.

The 1983 World Cup winner also stated that there cannot be another MS Dhoni but Jurel is the next MSD in the making.

“Of course, he has batted well, but his keeping, his work behind the stumps has been equally brilliant. Just by looking at his game awareness, I want to say that he is another MS Dhoni in the making.

I know there can never be another MSD but you know the presence of mind that he has, MSD also when he started, it was that. And Jurel has that game awareness. Street-smart cricketer.” – Gavaskar said via Jio Cinema.

If Dhruv Jurel can feature in the 5th and series concluding Test match in Dharamshala, then he will automatically be included in BCCI’s central contract list. Along with Sarfaraz Khan, Jurel will make it to Grade C of the payroll system and both of the newbies are expected to start on March 7th onwards.

Regardless, the Rahul Dravid-led management has found themselves a gem behind the stumps who is capable of changing things with the bat too.

Sourav Ganguly claims MSD was in a league of his own and asks Dhruv Jurel to focus solely on his game

After coming across Gavaskar’s remarks, Sourav Ganguly had a contrasting view of Dhruv Jurel. Ganguly praised Jurel for the way he batted but claimed that MS Dhoni was in a league of his own and that Jurel could not emulate him. Ganguly further mentioned that it would be a violation to compare both of them as MSD took 15-20 years to become a legend.

“Dhruv Jurel, what a Test match he had under pressure on a difficult wicket. There is huge talent and if you miss you and you go back down in the ladder, it will be very hard to come back. MS Dhoni is in a different league.

Jurel has talent; there’s no doubt about it. But it took MS Dhoni 20 years to be MS Dhoni. Rather than 15 years for Dhoni to be Dhoni. So let him play. Jurel’s ability to play spin, pace and most importantly to perform under pressure.” – Ganguly told RevSportz.