WTC Final: Should Team India pick KS Bharat over Ishan Kishan? Former selector Sarandeep Singh opines
WTC Final happens between India and Australia at The Oval on June 7. Meanwhile, Sarandeep Singh has opted for KS Bharat over Ishan Kishan and Umesh Yadav for Shardul Thakur. Here's why.
FollowFormer India selector Sarandeep Singh says picking KS Bharat over Ishan Kishan as the wicketkeeper for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2021-23 against Australia is a no-brainer, and he would also choose Umesh Yadav over Shardul Thakur in the playing XI. In the absence of the injured Rishabh Pant, Kishan, who is yet to play Test cricket, can provide the x-factor, but Sarandeep feels Bharat walks into the eleven as the frontline wicketkeeper.
"KS Bharat, for sure. He is a proper Test match wicketkeeper, and we saw that against Australia at home, he kept superbly. He has been around for a while, and he should get the opportunity," Sarandeep told PTI on Wednesday. The WTC Final will happen at The Oval in London on June 7.
The former India spinner said Kishan's time will come. "Ishan is an opener. I am not saying he is not capable of playing Tests. He is one for the future. But he opens in limited-overs cricket. Things will be different at number six. Yes, he goes hard from ball one, which can be counter-productive in England, but Bharat can also bat well and play shots also," he reasoned.
'Umesh's extra pace and old ball skills will come handy'
Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, breathing fire in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), will share the workload in the pace department, and the Indian team will need to choose between Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur as the third fast-bowling option.
"I am picking Umesh ahead of Shardul because he has that extra pace, and he can reverse the old ball. He can be very helpful on that Oval track. All of India's batters are in good form going into the one-off game, and that bodes well for the team," said Sarandeep.
"I don't see any concerns with regards to batting or bowling going into the final. All of them are in form. Yes, the conditions will be challenging in England as always, and they will be shifting to Test mode from T20s. The weather can change on a daily basis, and India will have to adapt," he added.
"Facing bowlers like Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood is a huge challenge, but we have a world-class batting attack. Shubman is the only one who has not played a lot in England, but he is in the form of his life and should do great things there," said the 43-year-old, who was part of the selection panel when India won the historic series in Australia in 2021.
"Australian pacers don't swing the ball that much"
Australian pacers are used to bowling hard lengths and don't swing the ball as much as the Indian quicks or Englishmen, and Sarandeep thinks that will work in India's favour. "The ball has to swing first. Most of the Aussie pacers, their strength is to hit the length hard. They are not ones who swing the ball much," he feels.
ICC trophy drought should end with WTC win
India has not won an International Cricket Council (ICC) trophy since 2013 despite being touted as favourites heading into the world events. Sarandeep said the big finals are all about handling pressure and hopes India doesn't have a bad day like they did at the T20 World Cup last year or the 2019 ICC World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.
"If you see, even in the 2019 World Cup, we won a majority of the games and were favourites in the semi-finals, and rain comes, the game is pushed to reserve day, and we lost the game. If you talk about the last two years, yes, we did lose massively to Pakistan and England, but things will change [in WTC]," he added.
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