Team India cricketer KS Bharat shared about receiving value inputs on wicketkeeping in England from none other than the legendary MS Dhoni prior to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. The summit clash will be played between arch-rivals India and Australia at the Oval, starting on Wednesday, June 7.
Speaking in an interview with ICC, KS Bharat said: “Recently during the IPL I had a word with Mahendra. He (talked about) his experiences keeping in England as well as what would work the best for any wicket-keeper. It was a very good conversation and there were a lot of insights from that.”
When he was asked about the qualities that help someone become a solid wicketkeeper, KS Bharat cited MS Dhoni as the perfect example. However, he has to compete for the place with Ishan Kishan as well. With Rishabh Pant ruled out due to injury, it has become difficult for the management to choose. While Bharat has played four Tests for India in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home, Ishan is yet to make his debut in Test as well.
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“It’s the awareness – the best example is MS Dhoni, the awareness he has in keeping is outstanding,” Bharat said. “You need intent and passion to be a keeper, because keeping is a thankless job. You keep 90 overs in a Test day and you have to be concentrating ball by ball, so you have to accept the challenges and embrace it and be really passionate about contributing to the team.”
Meanwhile, former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar named his playing XI for Team India for the WTC final against Australia. He also hesitated about his selection between KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan.
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Speaking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar said: “I will talk about the batting and that will be Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as one-two. No. 3 is (Cheteshwar) Pujara, No. 4 is (Virat) Kohli, No. 5 is Ajinkya Rahane. No. 6 is where there is just a little bit of a concern. I would imagine No. 6 would be either (Srikar) Bharat or Ishan Kishan. They are talking about Bharat because he has played all these matches so far. So will probably stick with Bharat at six. No. 7 will be (Ravindra) Jadeja. If it’s a bright day and a bright prediction, then I think you are looking at Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin at No. 7 and No. 8. No. 9, 10 and 11 will be Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and maybe Shardul Thakur,” concluded Gavaskar.
