India will be without the services of Rishabh Pant in the ICC WTC Final. The keeper batter, who has been India’s mainstay in the batting lineup in Tests, due to an accident he met with was ruled out of the final against Australia in The Oval.
His absence gave rise to many speculations and even many media reports suggested that India is keen to have KL Rahul as a keeper in the side. The reason behind that was they wanted to strengthen their batting lineup and Rahul has been exceptional in the English conditions with the bat.
But to worsen the case more, KL Rahul also got injured and ruled out of the ICC WTC Final. The batter had an injury in the ongoing IPL 2023 and underwent surgery and will be unavailable for the next few months. In his place, BCCI drafted Ishan Kishan to the team.
However, it’ll be a big headache for team management to play who is a keeper in the team for the ICC WTC Final. KS Bharat might be vulnerable with the bat against the moving ball but his keeping skills are second to none. Ishan Kishan however brings something similar to what Rishabh offered.
Ravi Shastri however feels that it’ll be a tactical call for the management as if the opposition is playing two spinners then KS Bharat will play but if they need a better batter then Ishan Kishan might have a go. Speaking on ICC review, he said:
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“See, that’s another tight one (decision). Now, if two spinners are playing, then you would want Bharat to play. You have to see who’s a better keeper. Is it Bharat or Ishan Kishan? Now, the fact that Bharat was given a run against Australia, where he played all the Test matches, I think he would be the obvious choice to go with. There’s not much there. It’s not that one guy is far better than the other. Batting will also come into play, whether you want Ishan Kishan’s batting to shore up the middle order.
“That’s another thing you’ll take into perspective. Are you going to go with four fast bowlers? Then there’s not much spin and you just need someone decent behind the stumps to do the job. So that you would leave to team management. Just before the game, they would weigh in just these little things that I’ve just said, and obviously look at current form.”
ICC WTC Final: Dinesh Karthik backs KS Bharat to play against Australia
ICC WTC Final: Dinesh Karthik also shared his views on the same but he backed KS Bharat to play against Australia. He feels that the team won’t risk giving a debut to Ishan Kishan in the big game like ICC WTC Final. He elaborated:
“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. 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.”
India and Australia will cross swords with each other in the final of the Test Championship and it’s fair to say that both the teams will be eager to lift the trophy. The event will take place at Oval England from the 7th to the 11th of June.
