KS Bharat Called Up As Wriddhiman Saha's Cover For Kolkata Test

The Indian selection panel released Rishabh Pant from the Test squad of the ongoing day-night Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata. Pant is a part of the upcoming T20I and ODI squads for the series against West Indies and has been asked to play for Delhi in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to get some much-needed game time.

Delhi has made it to the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20. Thus Pant will be available for Delhi’s next two Super League matches, against Haryana on November 24 and Rajasthan on November 27, and for the semi-finals and final if Delhi make it that far. With form not on his side, Pant will be desperate to hit the ground running in domestic circuit.

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The replacement:

Pant has been replaced in the squad by KS Bharat, the Andhra wicketkeeper who has been toiling hard in domestic circuit for years now. He made his first-class debut for Andhra in 2013 and since then, he has been one of the most consistent performers in domestic circuit. Unsurprisingly, he has been a regular for India A in the longest format.

Watch Andhra keeper @KonaBharat effect an amazing stumping of Punjab's Jiwanjot Singh. @ranjiscores @BCCIdomestic pic.twitter.com/PypDP1kAg9

— Circle of Cricket (@circleofcricket) November 21, 2015

What sets him apart from most of the domestic wicketkeepers is that he has been doing well with both bat as well as gloves. So far, he has played 69 games, scoring 3,909 runs at an average of 37.58. He has eight centuries and 20 half-centuries with a highest score of 308 against Goa in 2015. Having earned his maiden call-up from the senior team for the remainder of the Kolkata Test, Bharat said he is looking forward to learning from the India stars.

“I played the first pink ball match in Lucknow when it was introduced in the Duleep Trophy in 2015,” Bharat told PTI. “I got a call and was asked to join the team. I’m reaching at 8.30 tomorrow morning. I am looking forward to sharing the dressing room with my idol Virat bhai. Wriddhiman is one of the best wicketkeepers of the current era. I’m hoping to learnt a lot from them.”

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