The Rajasthan Royals are flying high in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) and their win against the Lucknow Super Giants has brought them close to sealing a place in the playoffs already. RR beat LSG by seven wickets away from home and thus increased their winning streak to four games. They have lost just one of the nine games they have played thus far this season and the victory on Saturday took them to 16 points. A major reason behind their win against LSG were clinical half-centuries from captain Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel and an unbeaten 121-run stand between them that came in just 62 balls.

Samson finished unbeaten on 71 off 33 balls while Jurel was not out for 52 runs off 34 balls. This was Jurel's first IPL half-century and it comes in what has thus far been a remarkable year in the 23-year-old's career. His knock garnered praise from former India head coach and commentator Ravi Shastri. "This Jurel is a Jewel for Indian cricket. Right now and going ahead into the future. Serious Dude," said Shastri in a post on his X handle.

Jurel's rise in 2024

Jurel's impressive performances in the domsetic circuit helped him earn a maiden Test call-up for India's five-match Test series against England. He made his debut in the third Test and ended up playing as India's wicketkeeper for the rest of the series. Jurel scored 190 runs in the series at an average of 63.33 and this included a 149-ball 90 in the fourth Test that played a big role in India coming from behind and winning by five wickets.

Jurel then made a couple of valuable contributions from the lower middle-order in RR's first two wins of the season. Since then, however, he only managed scores of 2, 6 and 2 on the three occassions that he got to bat before Sunday.

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