India will face Australia in the final of the World Test Championship scheduled to be played at The Oval from June 7.
Though Pant was replaced by KS Bharat, he failed to impress with the bat and was struggling to keep wickets on rank turners. While in the WTC final, the pitch is unlikely to support spin, focus remains on Bharat’s batting which has been a source of concern. Considering Pant was India’s best batter in Tests in overseas conditions, it would certainly be a daunting task for anyone to fill in his shoes.
Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar shared his opinion regarding the choice of India’s wicketkeeper-batter for the big match. Considering his latest performance in England, Gavaskar suggested that KL Rahul could be seen as the frontrunner for the slot and should be kept in mind while picking up the playing XI.
“You can see KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper. If he bats at No.5 or 6 in at the Oval (in the WTC final) then our batting will be stronger. Because he batted really well in England last year. He scored a century at the Lord’s. Keep KL Rahul in mind when you pick your XI for the WTC final,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying to Sports Tak.
Gavaskar backs Dinesh Karthik’s opinion on Bharat’s wicketkeeping
“Dinesh Karthik summed up the problems with his wicketkeeping quite beautifully (during commentary). The real test of a wicketkeeper is on pitches like these where the ball is turning. If you look at Travis Head’s dismissal, when the ball turned and hit his stumps, KS Bharat’s gloves were nowhere near the ball. That means, if the ball hadn’t hit the stumps, it would have resulted in 4 byes. This is definitely a cause for concern. Whether they will select him in the XI or not is up to the selection committee but in England, you won’t get pitches where the keeper has to stand up to the stumps. In that case, you can pick KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper and even Ishan Kishan can be considered. Their batting is better than Bharat’s,” Gavaskar said.
