India wicket-keeper Srikar Bharat looked out-of-sorts in the first 30 minutes of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 Test match against Australia in Ahmedabad today.
Advertisement
Bharat, who was amid talks of being dropped for debutant wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan after lack of runs in the first three Tests, managed to play his fourth Test on the back of captain Rohit Sharma’s backing. However, he didn’t register the best of starts of a Test by conceding a couple of boundaries as byes in the first two Mohammed Shami overs.
Having said that, leaking eight runs wasn’t his biggest mistake in the first session of this match. It was on the penultimate delivery of the sixth over when Bharat dropped an absolute sitter to put his team on the back foot in real sense.
Bowling his third over, India pacer Umesh Yadav managed to induce an outside edge off Australia opening batter Travis Head’s bat only for the 29-year old player to err behind the stumps. Instead of letting the ball come towards him, a nervy Bharat was seen pushing towards the ball with hard hands which resulted in the ball traveling between his hands.
An awkward miss for any wicket-keeper at this level, it could get way more uglier for the home team especially if Head makes this opportunity count on a pitch which has provided early signs of being conducive for batting unlike the first three matches of the series.
KS Bharat dropped catch video
Srikar Bharat stats in Test cricket
In five Test innings thus far, Bharat has scored 57 runs at an average of 14.25. Although the numbers aren’t great by any means, one can’t ignore the fact that all the matches of this series have been low-scoring encounters played on difficult batting surfaces.
Furthermore, one expects the team management to back someone for more than three matches considering how he has been rated highly by one and all especially with respect to his wicket-keeping ability.
