KS Bharat: Amid calls to include Ishan Kishan as the wicketkeeper batter for India tour of West Indies, KS Bharat has found some support in Anjum Chopra, who has urged to be fair with the wicketkeeper batter. The former India Women’s captain feels Bharat did a fabulous job as the keeper during the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia, and he should be backed.
While Bharat failed to live up to the expectations with bat in hand, the Andhra wicketkeeper batter had a decent outing behind the stumps after a poor start during the Border Gavaskar Series. Speaking to News18, Anjum believes in being not too harsh on Bharat.
“He (Rishabh Pant) obviously a massive miss. But let’s not be unfair to KS Bharat. I thought he kept really well. That was his primary job – to keep wickets and he did it very well,” said Chopra.
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While Bharat may have justified by doing a good job behind the stumps, the right-hand batter has so far failed to score a single fifty in the five Tests that he has played. In the eight innings that he has batted, Bharat has scored only 129 runs, with the highest score of 44. However, Anjum feels it’s too early to judge his batting, and the lower order’s role is just to assist.
“If we say that we have to rely on his batting because we didn’t have that kind of performance that Rishabh Pant could provide the team, then I think we are probably looking at it in the wrong manner. We have a top-order that is supposed to bat, a middle-order that is supposed to support, and a lower-order to just assist,” Chopra added.
India next play West Indies in a two-match Test series in July, Bharat is expected to keep his place, with Ishan Kishan being the backup wicketkeeper batter.
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