KS Bharat’s unconvincing display with the bat in the five Tests he played this year has prompted the selectors and the team management to hand Ishan Kishan a Test debut at Windsor Park in Dominica on Wednesday.
Head coach Rahul Dravid is keen on having a keeper who can bat in the absence of Rishabh Pant, who is undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy following an accident. With India playing five specialist batters, runs lower down the order is considered essential.
Kishan’s batting in the limited overs format swung it in his favour though he has never been a regular in first-class cricket. He last featured in a Ranji match in December 2022.
Bharat performed creditably in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on rank turners at home but struggled against quality pace attack overseas. His failure with the bat in the World Test Championship final seems to be the last straw before the team management felt a change was needed.
The selectors even toyed with the idea of including Upendra Yadav before deciding to retain Bharat. But Kishan’s keeping skills against spinners remain a major concern.
Kishan is not even Jharkhand’s first-choice keeper, with Kumar Kushagra performing the duties, and primarily plays as a specialist batter. India have picked both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the XI and how Kishan lives up to the spin challenge will be interesting.
