‘It’s A Very Difficult Position To Bat In’ - Dravid Defends Jurel After Punjab Loss

Despite a swashbuckling start to the run chase by the opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Rajasthan Royals failed to chase down the target of 220 runs against Punjab Kings and lost their eighth game while chasing a total this season. All hopes were pinned on Dhruv Jurel to steer the team home, but he failed to maintain the momentum towards the end, resulting in a narrow 10-run loss.

While Jurel, who scored 53 off 31 balls, bore the majority of the blame for slowing down in the death overs, Royals’ head coach Rahul Dravid defended the wicket-keeper batsman, citing the situation he had been put in.

“In every single match that he has come out in, he’s been chasing 13-14 runs per over — that is not easy,” Dravid said at the post-match press conference. “He played really well, even though we lost a bunch of wickets in the middle overs. He brought us close to the target. It’s not like he’s walked in needing 7 an over and failed. It’s always 12-13, sometimes even more. I think Jurel has done well for us at No. 5. It’s a very difficult position to bat in.”

Rajasthan Royals have struggled despite having a young core, but the likes of Sooryavanshi, Jaiswal, and Parag have shown remarkable composure under pressure. Dravid emphasised that the team will do well next year with the players toughening themselves with experience.

“We’ve seen the talent today again, the batting from Jaiswal, Vaibhav, Jurel, even Sanju and Riyan. We have a strong group of young Indian batsmen. They’ll only be better in a year,” the former Indian skipper said.

“Vaibhav will play a lot of cricket, like the India U19 setup. Riyan Parag too. These guys will be playing tough cricket, international cricket throughout the year. So hopefully when they return next season, they’ll be more experienced. They’re already very talented.”

The Royals have lost five games in a row now and are firmly in the race to finish at the bottom of the points table. There is not a single bowler from the Royals camp who is in the top 24 of the best bowlers this season, with Maheesh Theeksana placed at the 25th position with just 11 wickets from 11 games. Dravid stated that while batters have done well, bowlers need to take more responsibility.

“We’ve got close but haven’t been able to finish the job. It’s been one of those seasons where you feel we give 15-20 runs too many with the ball, and with the bat, after getting into good positions, we haven’t been able to finish with the big shots we needed from the lower middle order.

“It’s been five games now — 10 runs, tie, 1 run, 2 runs, 10 runs again. These are one or two hits in that final phase that we just haven’t managed.”