Sunil Gavaskar. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Despite a draw in the fourth Test, India cruised to the final of the World Test Championship scheduled to be played at The Oval from June 7. This came after New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka in the first Test, during the lunch of the final day of the Test between India and Australia. It knocked Sri Lanka out of the fight and put India in the World Test Championship final, irrespective of the result at the Narendra Modi stadium. India managed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 after the final Test ended in a draw.
The focus then quickly shifted to the WTC final for which, India’s preparation would be a huge task with two months of the IPL in between. Team India’s biggest worry would be the absence of their key players Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant. Both players have been out with injuries for a long time and there is no clear indication of their return to the Indian team.
Though Pant was replaced by KS Bharat, he failed to impress with the bat and was struggling to keep wickets on rank turners. While in the WTC final, the pitch is unlikely to support spin, focus remains on Bharat’s batting which has been a source of concern. Considering Pant was India’s best batter in Tests in overseas conditions, it would certainly be a daunting task for anyone to fill in his shoes.
While the woes continue to trouble India, legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar shared his opinion regarding the choice of India’s wicketkeeper-batter for the big match. Considering his latest performance in England, Gavaskar suggested that KL Rahul could be seen as the frontrunner for the slot and should be kept in mind while picking up the playing XI.
“You can see KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper. If he bats at No.5 or 6 in at the Oval (in the WTC final) then our batting will be stronger. Because he batted really well in England last year. He scored a century at the Lord’s. Keep KL Rahul in mind when you pick your XI for the WTC final,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying to Sports Tak.
Rahul was removed from vice-captaincy and dropped from the XI after the first two Tests of the Australia series. He was struggling to cross the 30-run mark in his last 10 innings in Tests. Although he is India’s first choice keeper in ODIs and has a good track record in English conditions, Rahul’S Test slot seems to be in a jeopardy. However, he had earlier regained his spot in the Test side after performing well when India toured England last time.
Gavaskar backs Dinesh Karthik’s opinion on Bharat’s wicketkeeping
Sunil Gavaskar also re-iterated Dinesh Karthik’s comments on Bharat’s wicketkeeping which the former wicketkeeper had made during commentary. Gavaskar said that a wicketkeeper’s skills are tested when the ball spins which is where Bharat failed to impress.
Gavaskar also mentioned that if India doesn’t want to go with Rahul for the wicketkeeper position, they may consider playing Ishan Kishan as well instead of picking up Bharat. He also added that both Rahul and Kishan are better batters than Bharat.
“Dinesh Karthik summed up the problems with his wicketkeeping quite beautifully (during commentary). The real test of a wicketkeeper is on pitches like these where the ball is turning. If you look at Travis Head’s dismissal, when the ball turned and hit his stumps, KS Bharat’s gloves were nowhere near the ball. That means, if the ball hadn’t hit the stumps, it would have resulted in 4 byes. This is definitely a cause for concern. Whether they will select him in the XI or not is up to the selection committee but in England, you won’t get pitches where the keeper has to stand up to the stumps. In that case, you can pick KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper and even Ishan Kishan can be considered. Their batting is better than Bharat’s,” Gavaskar said.