Top 5 best wicketkeepers for the future of Indian cricket

These are the five potential wicket keepers for the future of Indian cricket.

Wicketkeeping is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs to perform in cricket. It not only drains the wicketkeeper physically, thanks to all the movement one does behind the stumps, including dives; the concentration required to keep, drains one mentally as well.

In Indian cricket, the first ever wicketkeeper who played Test cricket for India was Janardan Navale, who played in India’s debut Test in 1932 against England at Lord’s. Then came Naren Tamhane, who played 21 Tests from 1955-1961 and Farokh Engineer played 46 Tests from 1961-1975 and was first recognized as the wicketkeeper who could bat as well.

Then came the first star Indian wicketkeeper in Syed Kirmani, who was not only excellent behind the stumps, but brilliant in front of them as well. He played 88 Tests for India from 1976-1986 and was considered world-class and was put on the same platform as the great Allan Knot, Jeff Dujon, Bob Taylor, and Rod Marsh.

He was replaced by Kiran More, who helmed the keeping gloves till 1993 and then came a long period in Indian cricket, when Nayan Mongia performed the wicketkeeping duties for India, from 1993-2001.

During this era, Australia keeper Adam Gilchrist changed the wicketkeeping landscape with his audacious batting and even India searched for a similar keeper who could contribute with the bat as well and during this period, Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik emerged as potential long-term candidates, but they fizzled out, thanks to inconsistent performances.

However, finally, in 2005, India got Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was a brilliant batsman and honed his craft behind the stumps as well. He played 90 Tests from 2005-2014 and is considered to be the greatest Indian wicketkeeper ever.

After his retirement from Tests, India is back to searching another great wicketkeeper and are back to Parthiv and Karthik.

But Team COC lists five very promising and young wicket keeping options that can serve India well for the upcoming decade in all forms of the game.

Here are the top 5 best wicketkeepers for the future of Indian cricket

KONA SRIKAR BHARAT (ANDHRA PRADESH)

Kona Srikar Bharat or KS Bharat is one of the most promising wicketkeepers in the country who plies his trade for Andhra Pradesh in the Indian domestic scene. The 24-year-old wicketkeeper was born in Vishakhapatnam in 1993 and made his FC debut in 2012. His claim to fame came in 2015 when he became the first wicket-keeper batsman in Indian domestic cricket to score a triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy.

Srikar Bharat is a very safe wicketkeeper behind the stumps and a batsman who can defend and take the attack to the bowlers as well. Bharat was a part of the Delhi Daredevils squad in the Indian Premier League and has been named in the squad for India Blue for the 2018–19 Duleep Trophy.

As part of the India A team, KS Bharat also joined the select list of wicketkeepers with  10 catches in a game. He became the 7th Indian keeper to claim ten and more catches in a first-class match, a feat he achieved against South Africa A.  

HARVIK DESAI (SAURASHTRA)

18-year-old Harvik Desai is a promising young wicket-keeper who plays for Saurashtra in the Indian domestic cricket and was part of the U19 World Cup winning team in 2018.

Desai was an integral part of the India U19 team that went unbeaten in the Youth World Cup in New Zealand in 2018 and lifted the trophy by defeating Australia in the finals. Harvik Desai made his List A debut for Saurashtra in the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy and is seen as a potential talent that is been groomed for future by the Indian cricket management.

SANJU SAMSON (KERALA)

Kerala’s Sanju Samson made quite a few ripples in the Indian domestic circuit thanks to his exploits in the Indian Premier League for Rajasthan Royals. The 23-year-old has played 44 FC matches for Kerala and has scored 2602 runs with 9 centuries and a best of 211 with an average of 55.94. He has also done very well in T20 cricket, making 3011 runs in 130 matches with a best of 102 and an average of 26.88.

Samson had come very close to making his India debut on many occasions, even traveling with the team to England in 2014. However, until now, he has played a solitary T20I game for the nation against Zimbabwe in 2015. Samson is a prodigious batting talent and is the youngest to score 1,000 runs in IPL and youngest to captain a Ranji side.

Samson has had some behavioral problems in the past, but has now rectified them and is back on the path to becoming a brilliant keeper and batsman for India in coming times.

ISHAN KISHAN (JHARKHAND)

Ishan Kishan hails from the same state as MS Dhoni, Jharkhand and plays for the same state in the Ranji Trophy. He has captained the India team in the 2016 U19 World Cup. He has played 32 FC matches with 2097 runs to his name with a best of 273 and 4 centuries and an average of 41.11.

Kishan has also played in IPL for Gujarat Lions and Mumbai Indians and had very good success for both teams. He opened the batting for Mumbai Indians and provided them with explosive starts at the top of the order and kept brilliantly well behind the stumps, despite suffering a freak injury during the tournament.

Kishan has shown maturity and has captained Jharkhand at the tender age of 20 in limited overs games and is seen as a potential replacement for MS Dhoni in any format of the game for the Indian team.  

RISHABH PANT (DELHI)

Rishabh Pant is perhaps one of the most exciting talents to come out of IPL and Indian domestic circuit. An explosive left-handed batsman and a very safe wicketkeeper, Pant became the youngest player to captain a Ranji side in the finals of the tournament, when he captained Delhi against Vidarbha in the finals of last year’s Ranji Trophy.

Pant has already made his mark in the Indian Premier League with some scintillating innings (128* from 63 balls) for Delhi Daredevils including a whirlwind century in IPL 2018. Pant scored the second-fastest century in a Twenty20 match, making 100 from 32 balls for Delhi against Himachal in the Zonal T20 league.

Pant made his India debut in T20Is against England in 2017 and later played in the Nidahas Trophy 2018.

Pant was on India A tour to England and has scored important runs for the team in both FC and List A matches on the tour. Based on his performances, Rishabh Pant was included in the Indian Test squad as an understudy to Dinesh Karthik for the first three Tests against England.

Given his penchant for aggressive batting, Pant is seen as the heir to the throne of MS Dhoni in the Indian team and at the moment, India desperately requires a keeper who can bat in Test matches and Pant fulfills all these criteria easily.

Future is bright for Rishabh Pant and he has all the chances in the world to grab this opportunity and perform on the world stage.