"Rohit & Dravid making bold and good selection calls" - Fans react as KS Bharat makes his Test debut

Wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat made his Team India debut in the first Test against Australia at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday, February 9.

Bharat has been second in line behind Rishabh Pant ever since India phased out senior wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha from the Test side after Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid took charge of the team.

However, with Pant out of action for several months after being involved in a car crash in December last year, the slot was up for grabs. There was a toss-up between Ishan Kishan and Bharat, but the management showed trust in the latter's abilities.

Fans were extremely delighted to see Bharat getting his long due, and here are some of the reactions:

Bharat boasts a decent first-class record, scoring over 4700 runs in 86 games at an average of 37.95, with nine centuries and 27 fifites. He also has 296 catches and 35 stumpings to his name.

The 29-year-old also had little experience in international cricket when he came out as a replacement for the injured Saha during the first Test against New Zealand in 2021. He took two catches and stumped Tom Latham off Axar Patel's bowling.

India strike early after being asked to bowl first

Australian skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bat first in Nagpur. However, the decision backfired as they lost both openers in quick succession.

Mohammed Siraj removed Usman Khawaja in the second over, while Mohammed Shami rattled David Warner's stumps in the next over with a ripper of a delivery. Since then, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have done well to stitch together a partnership and bail the team out of danger. At the time of writing, the visitors were 26/2 in 9.3 overs.

India vs Australia Playing 11s

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.

Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, and Scott Boland.

About the author

Ankush is a cricket journalist at Sportskeeda covering news, listicles, features, and exclusives. A graduate in Commerce and an accountant by qualification, Ankush followed his true calling for sports journalism, and today, has over 8 years of experience having working for the likes of Sportzwiki and Cricfit. Ankush places a very high emphasis on factual accuracy in his articles and believes in representing the true image of the story. Writing in the simplest and most easy-to-understand language possible, especially for those not well-versed with English, is one of his strengths.

Ankush, who captained his state in the National School games, is a big fan of Ravichandran Ashwin. He admires his unconventional thinking and his eagerness to keep learning despite being a legend of the game. His favorite cricket team is Australia because of their mentality and fighting spirit, and them beating India in the 2003 World Cup final left a lasting impression on him.

Apart from watching and covering cricket, Ankush also likes to read books whenever possible.

Know More