“Keep KL Rahul in mind when you pick your XI for the WTC final” - Sunil Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar reckons that the team management should consider playing KL Rahul as a keeper-batter in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final. Pointing out Rahul’s success in England, the Indian legend stated that if he plays in the middle order, it will strengthen the batting department.

India will take on Australia in the WTC final at The Oval from June 7-11. Team India beat Australia 2-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and confirmed their spot in the final as Sri Lanka failed to beat New Zealand in the Christchurch Test.

The hosts were without wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is likely to be out of action for an extended period following his horrific car accident in December last year. KS Bharat took the gloves in Pant’s absence against the Aussies but failed to make much of an impact.

Sharing his views on the wicketkeeping conundrum, Gavaskar told Sports Tak:

"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.”

Rahul had a poor Test series against Australia. Going into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with his place already under the scanner, he registered scores of 20, 17, and one in the first two Tests.

Subsequently, the batter was stripped of vice-captaincy and also dropped from the playing XI for the last two Tests of the series.

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“KS Bharat's gloves were nowhere near the ball” - Gavaskar analyzes the keeper’s performance

During the Ahmedabad Test between India and Australia, Dinesh Karthik highlighted certain issues with Bharat’s keeping as he struggled behind the stumps.

Agreeing with DK’s observations, Gavaskar elaborated:

"Dinesh Karthik summed up the problems with his wicketkeeping quite beautifully. 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.”

Stating that Rahul is a better batter than Bharat, the 73-year-old concluded:

“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.”

Apart from his keeping, Bharat struggled with the bat as well, registering a highest score of 44 from four Tests.