Highest first-class batting averages: Dhruv Jurel goes past Sachin Tendulkar with twin unbeaten tons vs South Africa A

Nov 08, 2025 3 minute read News

Dhruv Jurel continued his superlative form in first-class cricket, following up his first-innings hundred for India A against South Africa A with another, in the second unofficial Test in Bengaluru.

After rescuing India A in the first innings, Jurel repeated his hundred in the second innings at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru on Saturday (November 8).

South Africa A were bowled out for 221 in the first innings, 34 short of India A's 255, of which an unbeaten 132 runs had come off Jurel's bat. The hosts wobbled again in the second innings, losing opener Abhimanyu Easwaran for another duck before each of KL Rahul (27), Sai Sudharsan (23), and Devdutt Padikkal (24) departed despite getting starts.

To make matters worse, Rishabh Pant left the field retired hurt at 108-4, when Jurel came out to bat. He lost night-watcher Kuldeep Yadav soon after as India A slipped to 116-5. But resistance came in the form of left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey, who made a valiant 84 off 116 balls, stitching a 184-run sixth-wicket partnership with Jurel.

Following Dubey's wicket, Pant returned, and after a nervous wait on 99, Jurel finally reached his second hundred of the match with a flick off his pads in the presence of the India A captain at the other end. From thereon, both Jurel and Pant laid into the South Africa A attack. The duo added 82 runs in 8.5 overs before India A declared at the stroke of Pant's wicket for 65. Jurel remained unbeaten once again, having scored 259 runs without being dismissed in the match.

2nd unofficial Test, India A vs South Africa A

LIVE

India A vs South Africa A | South Africa A tour of India, 2025 | 2nd unofficial Test

BCCI Centre of Excellence 1, Bengaluru

Thursday, November 06th, 2025 04:00am (UTC:+0000)

22C, Scattered Clouds, 3.09 meter/sec

IND-A India A

255

(77.1) RR: 3.30

382/7 dec

(89.2) RR: 4.28

vs

SA-A South Africa A

221

(47.3) RR: 4.65

25/0

(11.0) RR: 2.27

Stumps

Dhruv Jurel goes past Tendulkar, Jaiswal

This has been a productive season for Jurel. He scored his maiden Test ton last month during the West Indies series and had also scored a hundred for India A against Australia A before that.

Also read: No more Pant’s backup: India's search for a Test No.3 could end at Dhruv Jurel

During the course of his first-innings century against South Africa A, Jurel also went past 2,000 first-class runs, in his 30th first-class game.

Following his twin tons, Jurel's batting average in the format now reads 58. At this point, he is just the 10th Indian batter to have scored more than 2,000 runs at a batting average of 58 or more.

Jurel went past both Sachin Tendulkar and Yashasvi Jaiswal, both of whom have first-class averages of 57.84.

Also read: Highest first-class batting averages: Pakistan youngster sets national record with hundred in third consecutive game

Currently, Jurel is 17th on the all-time list for highest first-class batting averages. Among the 17, his tally of five hundreds is the lowest. The only other batter in the top 17 to have scored less than 10 first-class hundreds is Vidarbha's Yash Rathod, who recently forced his way into the group on the back of his incredible run in the Ranji Trophy.