WTC Final, 2023: Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar wants THIS batsman to replace KS Bharat as wicket-keeper
Sunil Gavaskar wants KS Bharat replaced for the WTC final.
India and Australia are set to face each in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June in England after both teams secured a spot for the marquee clash during the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar series. India were without Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant but managed to win the series 2-1.
With both Bumrah and Pant sidelined for the WTC final too due to injuries, former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar wants India to consider KL Rahul as wicket-keeper over Pant's replacement KS Bharat. Notably, Rahul was dropped in the last two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar series following a string of low scores.
Speaking to media outletSports Tak, Gavaskar said, "You can see KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper. If he bats at No. 5 or 6 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."
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Gavaskar suggested the change after Dinesh Karthik highlighted issues in KS Bharat's technique on air during the Ahmedabad Test between India and Australia.
"Dinesh Karthik summed up the problems with his wicketkeeping quite beautifully. 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.
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Rahul was also removed as the vice-captain of the side and Shubman Gill was roped in for the last two Tests as a batter. Gill made an immediate impact at the top and scored a century in India's first innings in the last Test.
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