Rajasthan Royals’ underappreciated star: 508 runs from 15 matches, yet overshadowed by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Amid Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hysteria, Dhruv Jurel quietly scripted Rajasthan Royals’ second-biggest batting season with 508 runs.

Amid the madness, noise and hysteria surrounding Vaibhav Sooryavanshi this IPL season, another Rajasthan Royals batter quietly built one of the finest campaigns that equally shaped the team’s march into Qualifier 2.

Rajasthan Royals beat SRH to reach Qualifier 2 (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

While the 15-year-old grabbed headlines, and rightfully so, with sixes, centuries and jaw-dropping strike rates, Dhruv Jurel kept stitching together innings under pressure and carrying Rajasthan’s middle order almost unnoticed. Somewhere along the way, he scripted a masterclass of consistency, a feat largely overshadowed by the chaos around him.

Sooryavanshi has captured every emotion imaginable this year with his fearless ball-striking against world-class bowling attacks. There has barely been an international-level bowler capable of stopping him. Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and even Pat Cummins on Wednesday night in New Chandigarh have all found themselves at the receiving end of his wrath.

In 15 innings, Sooryavanshi has smashed 680 runs at a ridiculous strike rate of 242.85, with a century, two scores in the 90s and two more fifties. The cricket world simply cannot stop talking about the boy wonder.

But amid the euphoria surrounding him, Jurel has quietly emerged as the backbone of Rajasthan’s middle-order revival.

In 15 matches, he has scored 508 runs at a strike rate of 155.35, including six half-centuries. In fact, he is the only other Rajasthan batter besides Sooryavanshi to cross the 500-run mark this year, making him the franchise’s second-highest run-scorer. Jurel is also only the second middle-order batter after Heinrich Klaasen to score over 500 runs this season.

And many of those runs have come in pressure situations.

That was evident again during the Eliminator in New Chandigarh on Wednesday. Sooryavanshi had laid the perfect platform with his explosive 28-ball 97. Rajasthan’s run rate had soared past 15, but Yashasvi Jaiswal was still struggling at the other end, and SRH were fully aware of the danger.

The previous time these two teams met in Jaipur, Sooryavanshi’s 35-ball century still ended in defeat because nobody else could capitalise around him.

So when the teenager departed in the Eliminator, the momentum briefly dipped and the run rate began to slide. At one stage, it even threatened to fall below 12 an over, until Jurel exploded with a 21-ball half-century that added another decisive layer to Rajasthan’s innings.

Without the combined brilliance of both batters, the result could easily have swung the other way.

Rajasthan Royals now have a day’s break before facing Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday at the same venue. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, meanwhile, have already booked their place in the final and will closely watch the clash in Chandigarh to discover their opponent for Sunday’s title decider in Ahmedabad.