KS Bharat takes tips from MS Dhoni on England’s position ahead of WTC final

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat is fighting for a spot along with Ishan Kishan in Team India’s final playing XI in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, which gets underway at the Oval in London on Wednesday. It appears Bharat now has an edge over Kishan and is set to take wicket after wicket in the WTC final in the absence of regular keeper Rishabh Pant.

Bharat on Monday revealed that he received wicketkeeping advice from the legendary MS Dhoni during the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season and said that his awareness of wicketkeeping is outstanding. Ahead of India’s ICC World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval from June 7, the Indian wicket-keeper told the ICC that he would like some advice from none other than Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni ahead of the match against Australia. Did not get at The Oval.

He said, ‘Recently I had a talk with Dhoni during the IPL. He (talked) about what would work best for any wicketkeeper along with his experience in England. It was a very good conversation and learned a lot from it.

Getting instructions from Dhoni was especially important as Bharat cited the veteran when asked what makes a successful wicketkeeper. “It is awareness – the best example is MS Dhoni, the awareness he maintains is excellent. To be a keeper you need intention and passion, because keeping is a thankless job. You bowl 90 overs a day in a Test and you have to focus ball by ball, so you have to accept challenges and embrace it and be really passionate about contributing to the team,” Bharat said. .

India’s playing XI is one of the major decisions facing India ahead of the first day’s action on Wednesday. The 29-year-old has played only four Tests against Australia in India earlier this year after coming in as a replacement for the injured Rishabh Pant. Bharath’s glove work earned him a place in the team, but he had a poor batting performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, with a maximum score of 44 in six innings.

KS Bharath reveals the invaluable advice he got from MS Dhoni before the match #WTC23 Last _

Reading _ https://t.co/zlE2z5R51m– ICC (@ICC) June 5, 2023

India may go ahead with aggressive left-armer Ishan Kishan for the one-off Test. Kishan is India’s alternate wicket-keeper option, and he arrived in England after a successful IPL season in which he scored 454 runs in 16 innings for Mumbai Indians with three fifties. But he is yet to break into the Test playing XI, having scored 2,985 runs in 48 first-class matches at an average of 38.76 and six hundreds and 16 fifties. On the other hand, in 90 FC matches, Bharath has 4,808 runs at an average of 37.27, including nine hundreds and 27 fifties.

India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mo. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).

Australia Team: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc) Mitchell Starc, David Warner