Indian national cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid gave his clear verdict on wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat’s poor form in Test cricket after the second match of the five-match series against the Indian national team. England cricket.
India and England faced off in the second Test at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. Rohit Sharma’s team managed to win the match by 106 runs and the heroes of the victory were Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
Jaiswal scored a magnificent double century in the first innings to help India achieve a big total on the board, while Shubman Gill smashed a brilliant ton in the second innings to help India achieve a big goal for the English team. Meanwhile, leading pacer Jasprit Bumrah was exceptional with the ball in both innings and destroyed England with his skills.
In the first innings, Jasprit Bumrah performed a stupendous spell and bagged 6 wickets while he picked up 3 wickets in the second innings to bag the Player of the Match award.
On one hand, the likes of Bumrah, Gill and Jaiswal impressed with their performances; on the other hand, the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma and KS Bharat continued to disappoint. Bharat, especially, faced a strong social backlash for not playing well with the bat since his debut in India.
Notably, Bharat has batted in 12 Test innings for the Indian national cricket team and has scored only 221 runs at an average of 20.09. He is yet to make a half-century in Test cricket and his best score is 44.
Disappointed is a strong word. I wouldn’t use the word disappointed – Rahul Dravid on KS Bharat
Even though KS Bharat is clearly struggling to deliver with the bat, India head coach Rahul Dravid has come to the defense of the wicketkeeper-batsman. Dravid said he is not disappointed with the 30-year-old gloveman’s performance.
“Disappointed is a strong word. To be honest, I wouldn’t use the word disappointed. Young players need time to develop. They are growing at their own pace. As a coach, you want young players coming into the team to grab opportunities and perform,” Dravid said in the post-match press conference.
Rahul Dravid added that Bharat has done a good job behind the stumps for India but admitted that there is room for improvement when it comes to batting.
“To be honest, his maintenance in both tests has been really good. With his batting, I’m sure you’ll agree that he certainly could have done better. On occasions, he has played on different songs. “He has had the opportunity to make better contributions,” he stated.
“He’s had the opportunity to make a little better contributions. Certainly, batting is an area in which he has done very well. He has reached this level because he has scored hundreds, even at A level. He came into the series with a hundred against the Lions (England Lions). He has come in a certain way, but somehow he has not worked out for him in these two games,” Dravid added.
It will be interesting to see whether KS Bharat will be retained or not for the upcoming Test match against England as India have a young wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel on the bench. The third Test is scheduled to be played from February 15 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.
