India’s veteran wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik believes playing Ishan Kishan in his debut Test in the all-important World Test Championship final will be asking a bit much from the youngster. With KL Rahul ruled out of the WTC Final, either Ishan Kishan or KS Bharat will keep wickets for India in the summit clash against Australia.
KS Bharat was given the gloves in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia but the right-hander failed to grab his chances on challenging wickets, which offered turn to the spinners.
Bharat is also part of the Gujarat Titans squad but he didn’t get his chances in IPL 2023 as Wriddhiman Saha was picked ahead of him.
On the other hand, Kishan is playing for Mumbai Indians and the left-hander has scored 454 runs in 15 matches at an average of 30.27 and a strike rate of 142.76. However, picking him in the Test playing XI on the basis of T20 form will not be justifiable.
Ergo, Karthik believes KS Bharat will be a straightforward choice as a wicket-keeper bat in India’s playing XI.
“I think Bharat will be a pretty straightforward choice because playing Ishan Kishan in his debut and a Test match straight in the World Test Championship Final is asking a bit too much,” Karthik said on ICC review.
Karthik, who didn’t have a great IPL 2023 season for RCB, feels Bharat will have an edge over Ishan Kishan because of his better keeping skills.
“And the fact that KS Bharat probably tips the scale in favour of himself just a little bit with this keeping edge that he has got. So I do think they will go in with KS Bharat for the final,” Karthik added.
On the other hand, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri believes it will be a tight call for the management but feels KS Bharat might get the nod ahead of Ishan Kishan.
India will play the WTC Final against Australia at the Oval from June 7.
