If India wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel’s 46 in 104 balls, in the third Test at Rajkot, wasn’t enough to convince you of his abilities as a batsman, his 90 in tricky conditions at Ranchi have made it clear, that he is slated for a long haul with Team India. Not only he batted for 149 deliveries in team’s first innings, but also added crucial 70-odd runs with Kuldeep Yadav to ensure an upper hand for the hosts.
But this marathon batting master-class has come only after marathon training. Jurel had been preparing for such a situation for close to 18 months, facing almost 840 balls everyday. Former Mumbai batsman Zubin Bharucha, who is also Rajasthan Royals’ High Performance Director, spoke about the lengthy process the Agra boy went through, to be where he is today.
“We have been preparing for the last 18 months taking the version (T20, ODI’s or Test matches) out of the equation and the practice and merely focusing on the how and where runs can be scored,” Bharucha said.
“Just before the (debut) Test match he came to the RR HPC in Talegaon and batted for 140 overs in a day, it took over four hours on different spinning surfaces. It was a monumental practice session, one of the few that matched Jaiswal’s long sessions,” Bharucha revealed.
840 Balls, But How?
“All (bowlers and throwdown men) are standing there at the same time. And the sequence is one throws for the flick. Next one for the cut. Next one for the pull. Next one for the straight drive. We do this on multiple surfaces (spinning, grass, bounce, wet cement), with multiple types of balls (rubber, tennis, cricket) and multiple types of bats (heavy/light/thin etc).
“Within this also we have one bunch who do it with the hand and the next bunch who do it with the wanger (throwdown apparatus Roboarm). Behind them are the spinners, and behind them the fast bowlers.
“So, one round in the nets would comprise around 14 people throwing, wanging and bowling, as opposed to the traditional way, where you may have like three spinners and three fast bowlers (for example) bowling one round. That’s how we got through 140 overs in a day’s practice for Dhruv,” he said.
