Ever since Rishabh Pant’s horrific car crash in December 2022, the Indian team, particularly in Test matches, has been left scrambling for a viable replacement to fill the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot.
In 11 Tests that India has played since Pant’s unavailability, K.S. Bharat has failed to fill the void in seven opportunities he has got, with his most recent scores of 17 and 6 in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam doing him no favour.
After seven Tests, Bharat averages a shade over 20 with the bat, and though it may be unfair to compare him to a generational talent such as Pant, his numbers aren’t flattering by contemporary international standards either.
Following India’s 106-run win in the second Test, head coach Rahul Dravid too admitted that Bharat hasn’t grabbed his opportunities, while maintaining that the team management was impressed with his skills behind the stumps.
“Young players need time to develop at times and they are going at their own pace. As a coach you want players to grab the opportunities they get. His keeping in Test matches has been really good. He will also feel that he certainly could have done better with the bat. Sometimes he has played on some difficult tracks, but sometimes he has had the opportunity to make better contributions. He has got here because he has a lot of hundreds even at the ‘A’ level. He came into the series with a hundred against England Lions. He has come in with some form but somehow it hasn’t really worked for him in these couple of games,” Dravid said during the post-match press conference.
With India’s Test team being under transition, and youngsters still figuring out the longest format of the game, contributions with the bat lower down the order are indispensable. Even in the second Test, India’s batting unravelled rapidly in both innings after the fall of five wickets as Bharat was unable to shepherd the tail.
He also cut a sorry figure in the second Test with his mode of dismissals – playing a tame cut to backward point and then pulling a long hop straight to midwicket off Rehan Ahmed. Bharat’s technique against spin is also concerning, especially considering he bats at No. 7-8. He averages 16.90 against spin in 12 innings while his technique against high-quality pace is dubious.
In fact, he was initially not named in the squad for the Tests against South Africa largely due to his ineptitude against pace on seaming tracks. However, once Ishan Kishan requested for a break, Bharat was drafted as his replacement though KL Rahul kept wickets in the two Tests as India sought batting depth.
Meanwhile, Kishan, who is cast in the Pant mould and hit a brisk fifty in his maiden Test series in West Indies last year after getting the nod ahead of Bharat, is not on the team’s radar and his return to the national team’s set-up is contingent on him getting game-time on the domestic circuit.
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“He had requested a break, and we were happy to give him the break. Whenever he is ready, he needs to play some cricket and come back. The choice is his. We are not forcing him to do anything. We are in touch with him. It is not that we are not in touch. He hasn’t yet started playing. At the moment, it is not something we would consider because maybe he is not ready. He decides when he wants to be ready. We have got options, with Rishabh Pant injured. We have been happy with the way K.S. has kept in his career so far,” Dravid said on Monday.
With Rahul injured and Dravid making it amply clear ahead of the series that he wouldn’t be keeping in any case due to the conditions, India has Dhruv Jurel waiting in the wings.
With four half-centuries in his last five First-Class innings and an average in excess of 70 in the last Ranji Trophy season, Jurel, who also has a reputation for taking the attack to the opposition, could be a feasible option.
Arguably, the best wicketkeeper in the country is still the 39-year-old Wriddhiman Saha, who also averages close to 30 in Tests with the bat. However, since the team management has moved on from him, consistent performers, such as Upendra Yadav and Kumar Kushagra, on the domestic circuit need to be groomed as Pant recuperates.
The ongoing series promises to be hard-fought, and, with pitches not turning as much as they have historically, batting might be the difference between claiming top honours and settling for the wooden spoon, and India might do well to add some value with the bat to the wicketkeeper’s role.
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