Ex-India opener Gautam Gambhir has slammed the former players, who want KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper-batter for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval in June.
Gambhir believes India must play “specialist wicketkeeper” KS Bharat rather than a “part-time keeper”.
“You should always go with a special wicketkeeper. England is a tough place to keep, where you can’t go with a part-time wicketkeeper,” Gambhir told Sports Tak.
He also cited Rahul’s decent record in England and opined that the latter should purely play as a batter.
“If you want to pick KL Rahul for the WTC final, then play him purely as a batsman,” Gambhir said.
In the absence of Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat featured in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia but he failed to make a mark as a keeper and batter.
However, Gambhir defended him by saying: “In four matches, we came to the conclusion that KS Bharat’s batting and keeping is not up to the mark. In those four matches, our top-order batsmen also failed to score, we must keep that in mind.”
“Those former players who are questioning Bharat must check their own records. The longer runs they have got despite not being able to perform. In Test cricket, you should always play a proper keeper. A wicketkeeper can drop catches but he can also take some stunning catches as well.”
“Ex-cricketers should know the importance of keeping in Test cricket. One drop catch can change the Test match. If a keeper drops a catch you know that he is a regular keeper, but if a part-time keeper drops a catch, you will keep scratching your head the entire five days that, oh we should have played a proper wicketkeeper,” he further remarked.
Gambhir also slammed critics for questioning KL Rahul’s form and said IPL is completely different from international cricket.
“I don’t think there will be any pressure on KL Rahul because IPL cricket is different than IPL cricket. If you score 1000 runs in the IPL and but if you fail to score in international cricket, you will face criticism. Only 15 players get to represent the country. In IPL more than 150 players get selected,” Gambhir said.
“KL Rahul has four centuries in the IPL. We are talking about a player who has proven himself in the IPL. He scored two centuries last year as well.
“Former cricketers criticise because they want to stay relevant. I don’t think KL Rahul will be under any pressure. One player doesn’t win you the tournament; there are 25 players in that dressing room, they are equally responsible for the success of the team,” he stated.
