India wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat will be felicitated by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) ahead of the second Test against England in Vishakhapatnam. The event will take place at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Thursday (February 1) to mark a special occasion.
KS Bharat will become only the second cricketer from the state to play a Test match at his home ground. The 30-year old was born in Vishakhapatnam and his journey with the Andhra team at the age of 11. In 2005, he was the ball boy at the stadium when India and Pakistan locked horns against each other. It was the match in which MS Dhoni played his monumental knock of 148 runs to announce his arrival in international cricket.
“Yes, we have planned a felicitation ceremony for Bharat,” ACA secretary Gopinath Reddy told Cricketnext.com. “It will happen here in the stadium itself on the Upper Floor of the South Stand. We requested a time for 2nd Feb, but the Indian Team management has given time for the 1st, so we will he doing the felicitation on Thursday.”
So far, three cricketers from Andhra have represented Team India in Tests. The first Andhra player to play Tests is MSK Prasad before Hanuma Vihari and KS Bharat represented India in the longest format of the game. Prasad could not play a Test at his home ground but Vihari got the opportunity in 2019 while Bharat is set to do it later this week.
“We have invited BCCI Secretary Mr Jay Shah ji and the President and Vice president when we all met at Hyderabad recently. We requested their presence here at Vizag and we also hope to lay the foundation stone for an indoor net here. Even though we have not got a confirmation, we are hopeful that he will come here,” Reddy said.
KS Bharat impresses in first Test:
KS Bharat returned to the Test playing XI for the first game against England and impressed. The wicketkeeper-batsman has been criticised for his batting and managed to come up with two good knocks. In the first innings, he scored 41 before scoring 28 in the second innings.
