"He can definitely get a promotion up the order" - Sunil Gavaskar picks Dhruv Jurel as one of the breakout stars of IPL 2024
Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar is highly impressed with the way Dhruv Jurel applied himself with the bat in his debut Test series for India against England recently.
Jurel won the Player of the Match as well in the fourth Test in Ranchi where his scores of 90 & 39* made a massive difference in the game. Gavaskar shed light on how the young wicketkeeper made an impression as an impact player for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the previous season.
Speaking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar explained why he felt Dhruv Jurel had the goods to be promoted in the batting line-up by RR and why he could have a big season. He said:
"Dhruv Jurel can be that person definitely. The way he has batted this year and the way he batted in the IPL last IPL, he can definitely get a promotion up the order."
Jurel scored 152 runs for RR in the IPL 2023 season at a strike rate of 172.73. Apart from the RR youngsters, Gavaskar also named fast bowler Akash Deep as one to watch out for in IPL 2024. He believes the Royal Challengers Bangalore could give Akash enough opportunities after an impressive Test debut in Ranchi recently.
Sunil Gavaskar on Mumbai Indians' weaknesses
Sunil Gavaskar reckons one of the very few weaknesses in the Mumbai Indians (MI) squad is its death bowling. While they will be bolstered with the return of Jasprit Bumrah, Gavaskar claimed that the star speedster may not get enough support from the other end.
On this, he stated:
"Death over bowling. Bumrah is there but maybe from the other side runs will be leaked. So this I think is a weakness in the Mumbai Indians side."
However, Gavaskar also acknowledged the fact that given MI's explosive batting line-up, they could post mammoth totals consistently, thereby covering up for the weakness in the death bowling by giving extra cushion to the bowlers.