KS Bharat assisted captain Rohit Sharma with the decision-making.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch expected to assist the spinners. However, Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammad Shami wasted no time to remove the visiting openers.
While Siraj trapped Usman Khawaja in front of the wickets, Shami knocked over David Warner with a peach of a delivery.
Keeping the wickets in his debut Test for India, KS Bharat also played a part in Khawaja’s dismissal. On-field umpire Nitin Menon didn’t raise his finger when the ball hit Khawaja’s pads, which led to Siraj persuading skipper Rohit Sharma to go upstairs.
Rohit consulted with wicketkeeper KS Bharat and opted for DRS. The ball tracker showed three reds as Khawaja walked back to the pavilion after scoring 1 off 3 balls.
While commentating, veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik gave an insight into how Bharat assisted captain Rohit with the decision-making.
“They say a Test cap will always be well-earned. And he has really earned his stripes. Played for Andhra for a long time - And one of the few guys who has played a lot of India A games as well. Was there for about 5 years. And here it comes - in the first five minutes of his keeping, in his debut - a big call to be taken, everybody excited. Goes straight to Rohit Sharma to have a conversation with him. And that's the interesting part - as a keeper, you need to have clarity, you need to be sure, you need to tell the captain what exactly you have seen. In as few words as possible so he has enough time to take that decision,” Karthik said on-air.
“Yes, and what is that question DK?,” Karthik's co-commentator asked him on-air.
“Did it pitch in line? Do you reckon it will go over the stumps or do you think it will hit the stumps? And then you gotta come up with the reply, I generally say, ‘it looks very close and I have a feeling the worst part of it could be an umpire's call’ and that's the best way to say so that you don't lose the review. And I think that would have been the line of conversation that KS Bharat would have had (with Rohit),” Karthik explained.
KS Bharat was picked ahead of Ishan Kishan in the Indian playing XI. He received his maiden Test cap from veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara ahead of the start of the opening Test.
(Hindustan Times Inputs)