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Indian wicket-keeper KS Bharat, who is likely to be the first choice glove man for the World Test Championship final against Australia, says he got “a lot of ideas” about staying in England from former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the recently concluded IPL. .
Bharat explained how Donnie sharing his valuable advice could help him if he gets the board’s approval for the big game at The Oval from Wednesday.
“Recently during the IPL, I spoke with Mahindra,” Bharat told the ICC on Monday.
“He (talked) about his experience staying in England as well as what would work best for any wicket-keeper. It was a very good conversation and there were a lot of ideas from that,” added Bharat.
He said Donnie’s situational awareness was simply unparalleled.
“It’s awareness – the best example of this is MS Dhoni, and the awareness he maintains is remarkable,” Bharat added.
The 29-year-old Gujarat Titans player also felt that his job requires a lot of ‘intent’ and one needs to be really passionate to do the ‘unwanted job’.
“You need the intention and the passion to be a ranger, because keeping is an unenviable job.” While the debate continues over who should be between Bharat and Ishan Kishan in the XI for the WTC final, the former is the favorite given his experience of playing four Tests.
Bharat, who is in the squad as India’s first-choice wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, recovering from a horrific car accident and his assistant KL Rahul recovering from surgery on his right thigh, added that retaining him brings “challenges” that he must have embraced.
Bharat added, “You keep 90 runs on Test day and you have to center ball by ball, so you have to accept and embrace challenges and be really passionate about contributing to the team.”
Ahead of the competition for Test supremacy, Bharat’s place in the side presents a huge selection dilemma faced by Rohit Sharma’s India. He has only played four Tests – all against Australia recently at home during the Border Gavaskar series.
Although he did admirably behind the stumps, his display with the bat was dismal – he took a career-high No. 44 with six runs.
However, Bharat’s domestic experience in 90 first-class matches could tip the scales in his favour.
Kishan, on the other hand, is yet to make his Test debut and has 48 first-class appearances. However, the young keeper has accomplished more with the bat than Bharat, having scored two centuries against Bangladesh at Chattogram late last year.
To add to this, Kishan has scored 454 runs for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023. The left-handed batsman also brings variety in the dominant right-handed batting line-up.
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