Sanju Samson heaped praise on Dhruv Jurel for his match-winning half-century for RR against LSG in Match No.44 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Saturday, April 27 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Jurel scored an unbeaten 52 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes as the Royals beat the Super Giants by 7 wickets and secured their eighth win out of 9 matches this season.
After RR found themselves at 78 for 3 in 8.4 overs while chasing 197, Jurel came to the party. He joined hands with Samson and put on an unbeaten partnership of 121 runs for the fourth wicket. On the back of his efforts, RR tracked down the target with an over to spare and recorded the highest successful run-chase at the Ekana Stadium.
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“Form is temporary and batting at No.5 is the toughest job in T20 cricket. A youngster like him, he has the composure as we have seen in Tests,” Samson said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
‘We believed in him’
Before the game against the Super Giants, Jurel was not getting enough runs. However, the Royals did not lose faith in their star batter. Samson said that it was only “a matter of time” before Jurel stepped up for RR with the bat in hand.
“We believed in him, he has been batting in the nets for one or two hours, and we knew it was a matter of time (before he delivered),” Samson added.
In 9 matches until now, Jurel has scored 102 runs at an average of 25.50 and a strike-rate of 134.21.
All but through to the playoffs, RR are next set to lock horns with Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers on Thursday, May 2 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
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