Welcome local hero and pride of Andhra KS Bharat.” There were several such posters on the roads connecting to the ACA-VDCA Stadium ahead of the second India-England Test.
One of the stands at the stadium even had a giant poster featuring Bharat, wishing him all the best for his maiden Test appearance at home.
The first two Tests against England were certainly a fantastic opportunity for KS Bharat to try and cement his place in the squad with Rishabh Pant still recovering and Ishan Kishan out with a break. With the uncapped Dhruv Jurel being the other keeper-batter in the squad for the first two Tests, Bharat became the automatic choice in the XI on the basis of his seniority.
But is his place secure after the just-concluded Test?
To be fair to Bharat, he did put up a decent job with the wicketkeeping gloves. But in terms of his batting, there aren’t too many reasons to be optimistic.
To be fair to Bharat, he did put up a decent job with the wicketkeeping gloves. But in terms of his batting, there aren’t too many reasons to be optimistic.
Last month for India ‘A’, the 30-year-old had come up with scores of 64 and 116
not out against England Lions in Ahmedabad. That did
inspire hopes in the Indian team management ahead of the five-match series against Ben Stokes and Co.
But again, Bharat flattered to deceive. He did reasonably well with scores of 41 and 28 in the series opener in Hyderabad, but at home and on a better surface to bat, Bharat’s application was far from good.