Former India head coach Ravi Shastri and experienced wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik have offered their views on India’s wicketkeeping option for the World Test Championship final against Australia.
With key players sidelined due to injuries, which include first-choice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and backup wicketkeeper KL Rahul, the Indian setup is in a tough spot with the important one-off Test against Australia set to unfold at The Oval on June 7. KS Bharat was chosen to don the gloves for the recent Border-Gavaskar Test series. The 29-year-old gave a pretty good account of himself as a wicketkeeper but failed to show his prowess with the bat, as he managed to register 101 runs from six innings in tricky conditions.
Shastri was asked about the wicketkeeper that India should go for in the latest episode of The ICC Review and said the choice depends on the conditions at the south London venue. “See, that’s another tight one (decision). Now, if two spinners are playing, then you would want Bharat to play,” Shastri said, as quoted by the ICC. “You have to see who’s a better keeper. Is it Bharat or Ishan Kishan? Now, the fact that Bharat was given a run against Australia, where he played all the Test matches, I think he would be the obvious choice to go with.”
The second choice is the free-run-scoring wicketkeeper, Ishan Kishan. The young left-handed batter warmed the benches during the four-match Test series against Australia. He found himself in the WTC squad after Rahul picked up an injury during the IPL and was later ruled out of the competition. The southpaw lends a bit of extra dimension to an otherwise dominant right-hand batting line-up in India. Shastri believes that there is not much between the pair. However, Karthik thinks the selection is a simple one, with the veteran wicketkeeper, who played in the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, choosing the experience of Bharat for the big occasion. Though 29-year-old Bharat has played only four Test matches so far, he has played 90 first-class games in the longer format. Kishan is yet to make his debut in Tests and has only 48 first-class appearances behind him.
While Bharat may be the better option behind the stumps, Kishan is an accomplished batter and already has an ODI double-century to his name following his superb innings of 210 against Bangladesh in Chattogram at the end of last year.