Team India will be without the services of star wicektkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant in the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final. Pant was involved in a car crash last year and has been on the road to recovery ever since. In his absence, KS Bharat is likely to keep the gloves, with youngster Ishan Kishan as the backup wicketkeeper. While analysing India’s squad, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh feels Wriddhiman Saha could have replaced KS Bharat as a wicketkeeper in the WTC final against Australia.
“No, I don’t think so. KS Bharat has been playing for India now. If it were Wriddhiman Saha, then I would say yes, play him. He has more experience and he’s a better keeper. If KL Rahul was fit, I would’ve played him over KS Bharat as well,” the Indian Express quoted Harbhajan as saying.
Saha, who played for Gujarat Titans in the recently concluded IPL 2023, has not played in a Test match for India since February of last year.
Many thought Saha, who is having a great IPL, will get a call-up for the one-off game but Kishan’s selection showed that Shiv Sunder Das‘ committee has gone with continuity.
Once Saha was categorically told last year that he won’t be picked any more for national duty as they want someone younger as Rishabh Pant’s deputy, there was no chance that the soon to be 39-year-old veteran would have been named as the replacement.
India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.
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