"It’s the awareness – the best example is MS Dhoni" - KS Bharat on conversation with former India skipper ahead of WTC 2023 final

Team India cricketer KS Bharat opened up about receiving value inputs on wicketkeeping in England from MS Dhoni ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

The battle royale for the Test Championship mace is set to be played between arch-rivals India and Australia at the Oval, starting on Wednesday, June 7.

Speaking in an interview with ICC, the 29-year-old Bharat said:

"Recently during the IPL I had a word with Mahendra. He (talked about) his experiences keeping in England as well as what would work the best for any wicket-keeper. It was a very good conversation and there were a lot of insights from that."

When asked about the parameters that make someone a solid wicketkeeper, KS Bharat pointed to MS Dhoni as the perfect example.

"It’s the awareness – the best example is MS Dhoni, the awareness he has in keeping is outstanding," Bharat said. "You need intent and passion to be a keeper, because keeping is a thankless job. You keep 90 overs in a Test day and you have to be concentrating ball by ball, so you have to accept the challenges and embrace it and be really passionate about contributing to the team."

The battle for the wicketkeeper spot in the Indian playing XI has been up for debate. Several former players and experts have expressed their stance on who between KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan should feature in the summit clash.

While Rishabh Pant would have been the obvious choice as the wicketkeeper, his injury has made it difficult to choose between Bharat and Ishan for the role.

While Bharat has featured in four Tests for India in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home, Ishan is yet to make his Test debut.

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"They are talking about Bharat because he has played all these matches so far" - Sunil Gavaskar picks his playing XI for the WTC Final

Former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar picked his playing XI for Team India for the WTC final against Australia.

While the top five select themselves, Gavaskar hesitated about his selection between KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan for the wicketkeeper spot before going with the former.

Speaking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar gave his preferred batting order by saying:

"I will talk about the batting and that will be Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as one-two. No. 3 is (Cheteshwar) Pujara, No. 4 is (Virat) Kohli, No. 5 is Ajinkya Rahane. No. 6 is where there is just a little bit of a concern. I would imagine No. 6 would be either (Srikar) Bharat or Ishan Kishan. They are talking about Bharat because he has played all these matches so far. So will probably stick with Bharat at six."

The 73-year-old assumed a bright and sunny day at the Oval as predicted before going ahead with his bowling attack.

"No. 7 will be (Ravindra) Jadeja. If it's a bright day and a bright prediction, then I think you are looking at Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin at No. 7 and No. 8. No. 9, 10 and 11 will be Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and maybe Shardul Thakur," concluded Gavaskar.

While KS Bharat did not feature in a single game for the Gujarat Titans in the recently concluded IPL, Ishan Kishan played in all 16 games for the Mumbai Indians and scored 454 runs.

Despite that, Bharat's wicket-keeping skills and the experience of having already played Tests for India could help him get the nod ahead of Ishan Kishan.