The finalists for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final (ICC WTC) 2023 have finally been decided. While Australia was the first team to book their place in the final, India became the second finalist after Sri Lanka’s failure to win the Christchurch against New Zealand.
Former Indian skipper, Sunil Gavaskar, thinks that KL Rahul should play in the marquee event instead of KS Bharat as a wicketkeeper in England. KS Bharat played four test matches as a wicketkeeper for the Indian squad in the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023, while KL Rahul was dropped from the playing XI after the second match at Delhi.
Former Indian opener believes Rahul should play in WTC Final-
“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,” said Gavaskar.
Bharat made his debut for Men in Blue in BGT 2023, he scored 101 runs in four matches he played in the series. The Indian team’s regular wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant is unavailable for the selection as he met with a car accident last year in December, and he is still recovering from the misfortune.
“Dinesh Karthik summed up the problems with his wicketkeeping quite beautifully (during commentary). 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,” he further added.
“That means, if the ball hadn’t hit the stumps, it would have resulted in 4 byes. This is definitely a cause for concern. 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,” said the former Indian skipper.
In the last test match at Ahmedabad, the 29-year-old scored quickfire 44 runs in 88 balls and gave the proper acceleration to the Indian innings for reaching the 571 mark in the fourth test match of BGT 2023. While Rahul debuted for India in the longer format of the game in the 2014-15 Australia tour, he scored seven tons for team India in test matches with his last century in 2021 against South Africa in Centurion.
India will take on Australia in the 2023 WTC Final at Kensington Oval on June 7, 2023, with a reserve day on June 12. Team India lost the inaugural edition of the WTC Final in 2021 against New Zealand at Southampton.
Also read: ICC WTC Final 2023: Date, Venue, Points Table And All Other Details