Questioned About India Star’s Form, Rahul Dravid Gives Sharp Response

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy hasn’t been a batter’s paradise so far. The first three Tests have seen bowlers, particularly spinners, dominating the proceedings, with all three matches ending inside three days. Though a number of batters have struggled to put runs on the board, wicket-keeper batter KS Bharat’s place in the team has been questioned, especially since Ishan Kishan is available for selection. However, India head coach Rahul Dravid jumped to Bharat’s defence when asked about his form, all but ruling out a change in wicket-keeper for the 4th Test against Australia.

In the three matches so far, Bharat has produced scores of 8, 6, 23*, 17 and 3. While there’s no denying that his contributions with the bat have been poor, it also has to be noted that not many batters have been able to assert themselves on the tricky spin-friendly conditions.

When Dravid was asked about Bharat, the India head coach fully backed the 29-year-old wicket-keeper batter.

“We are not (concerned),” Dravid said in the press conference on Tuesday. “It again comes to a question of perspective and understanding of some of the challenges and conditions that he has kept in and even though it’s not a big contribution but he got 17 in the first innings.

“Got a nice contribution in Delhi where he played positively, and you need a little bit of luck in these conditions and he hasn’t probably had that, and he is shaping really well and keeping really nicely for us. So we need to put batting performance in perspective,” he added.

Though India have an option in the form of Ishan Kishan, a player who possesses a similar style of play like Rishabh Pant, Bharat is unlikely to be dropped, courtesy of his exemplary wicket-keeping skills.

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