Dhruv Jurel reveals reason behind salute celebration after completing his maiden Test fifty

India wicketkeeper batter Dhruv Jurel became the knight in shining armour for India on Day 3 of the fourth Test against England in Ranchi. Playing just his second Test, Jurel registered his first half-century of his career as he rescued India’s innings from 177/7. Upon completing his first half-century in the first session, Jurel caught the attention of the cricketing fraternity with his unique salute celebration.

Notably, the 23-year-old made the special gesture for his father who’s a Kargil War veteran. Dhruv's father, Nem Chand is a retired havildar who fought in the 1999 Kargil war and took voluntary retirement from the service in 2008. Post his innings, he even revealed the conversation he had with his father at the end of Day 2 who asked him to celebrate his milestone with a salute which has been doing since his childhood.

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"The celebration after scoring fifty was for my father. He is a veteran of Kargil War. Yesterday evening, I was speaking to my father over phone and he told me indirectly 'beta, show your salute once at least', I have been doing that since childhood, so that celebration was for him," Jurel said after his innings.

Jurel narrowly missed out on his 100 as he got dismissed for 90 (149) with the help of six fours and four sixes. The Agra-born cricketer got involved in a crucial 76-run stand with Kuldeep Yadav (28 off 13) and a 40-run stand with Akash Deep (9 off 29) which helped India stay alive in the game. Courtesy of a valiant effort from the lower order, India finished their innings on 307 giving England a 46-run lead in the second innings.

India bundle out England for 145 in second innings

However, the Ben Stokes-led side failed to bat India out of the game in the second innings as Indian spinners ran riot over them bundling them out for just 145. Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for the host who picked the 35^th five-wicket haul of his career and registered figures of 5/51. Apart from him, Kuldeep Yadav (4/22) also bowled brilliantly registering figures of 4/22 in 15 overs.

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In reply, India got off to a great start in the fourth innings chasing a tricky target of 192, as openers Rohit Sharma (24 off 27) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (16 off 21) took their team to stumps unscathed on 40/0. The Rohit Sharma-led side need another 152 runs to win the fourth Test and take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series on Day 4.