After securing a 2-1 win over Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India have confirmed a place in the ICC World Test Championship final for the second edition in a row. In the summit clash of the 2021–23 WTC cycle, which will take place at the Oval from June 7–11, India will once again face the Baggy Greens for the top prize. And even though there are still more than two months to go before that big match, the discussion about India’s likely playing XI is getting a lot of attention.
After former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri and legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar batted for the inclusion of KL Rahul in the side as a wicketkeeper-batter, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has also given his opinion about India’s playing XI. But unlike the former two, he is not convinced by the idea of playing Rahul as a wicketkeeper-batter and instead wants Indian team management to back KS Bharat for the role. According to him, Team India should play a ‘specialist’ wicketkeeper instead of a ‘part-time’ wicketkeeper.
“You should always go with a specialist wicketkeeper. England is a tough place to keep, where you can’t go with a part-time wicketkeeper,” Gambhir told Sports Tak.
He said that if the team management wants to include Rahul in the side because of his good Test record in England, then he should play as a specialist batter and not a wicketkeeper-batter.
“If you want to pick KL Rahul for the WTC final, then play him purely as a batsman,” he said.
The 29-year-old Andhra stumper Bharat donned the gloves in all four Tests for India against Australia during the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy but failed to impress with his batting, after which his place in the side was questioned by many former greats.
Without naming anyone, Gambhir took a dig at Bharat’s critics and said before passing judgment on him, they should check their own records.
“In four matches, we concluded that KS Bharat’s batting and keeping are not up to the mark. In those four matches, our top-order batsmen also failed to score; we must keep that in mind. Those former players who are questioning Bharat must check their own records. The longer runs they have gotten despite not being able to perform. In Test cricket, you should always play a proper keeper. A wicketkeeper can drop catches, but he can also take some stunning catches as well.”
“Ex-cricketers should know the importance of keeping in Test cricket. One dropped catch can change the Test match. If a keeper drops a catch, you know that he is a regular keeper, but if a part-time keeper drops a catch, you will keep scratching your head the entire five days that, oh, we should have played a proper wicketkeeper,” he added.
