Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has urged India to stick with Srikar Bharat if he is doing a good job as a wicketkeeper even though he has not done well with the bat. However, Team India and England are currently tied at 1-1 after the first two games of the five-match Test series as well. Bharat, who has claimed six catches behind the wickets, has scored 92 runs at an average of 23.00 in his four innings.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “It’s very good if a keeper scores runs. However, he hasn’t played that badly as well, especially if you see the Hyderabad game. He was playing okay even in the first innings in Vizag. You get him to bat down the order. You are thinking about whether you can send him at No. 9. So when you are not expecting too many runs from him, I feel the thinking is wrong. He is a very decent batter. He recently scored runs for India A against the England Lions. I am not going to say that he is a very ordinary batter. If he is keeping well, please stick with him.”

However, Aakash Chopra also added that the Indian team shouldn’t get too fidgety. He said that Dhruv Jurel if played at Bharat’s expense, would also be dropped if he doesn’t keep well in the next match as well. He was also asked why the Indian batters have been struggling against an inexperienced England spin-bowling attack as well.

“It’s because we don’t play spin that well now. We don’t dominate spin as much as we used to. The second aspect is that we have played so much on turning pitches that we aren’t used to playing for long. If you see Shreyas’ back problem, it’s because you haven’t played much of days’ cricket. When you don’t play days’ cricket and don’t bat for long, your back is not ready. You are mentally unprepared. So it’s okay till 30-50 runs but after that, there is a tendency to play a bad shot,” Aakash Chopra concluded.