On Friday, BCCI announced the Indian squad for the first two Tests against Australia. A few days ago, Rishabh Pant met with an accident. He needs a lot of months to recover. Not just for the Test series, Pant is also out of IPL 2023. Since Pant was an important part of the Indian Test Team, everyone was curious about who would be selected in his place. Having been Pant’s back up for a while, KS Bharat was an obvious choice. Interestingly, as the other keeper, Ishan Kishan has got a chance. The Jharkhand man is in the same mould as Pant but is inexperienced in the longer format. Also, a few were of the opinion that performers in the Ranji Trophy did not get a chance. On that note, here, we take a look at two wicket-keepers who could have been picked ahead of Ishan Kishan for the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
1) Upendra Yadav
When it comes to India A Teams, if KS Bharat is not available due to national duty, it is Upendra Yadav who has kept wickets for India. Hence, he is on this list.
The Railways cricketer is also good with the bat. He has been consistent, and on Indian pitches, since his keeping skills are good, he would have been the ideal pick in the squad.
India’s squad for first 2 Tests vs Australia:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar YadavAdvertisement— BCCI (@BCCI) January 13, 2023
2) Dhruv Jurel
Dhruv Jurel is one of the wicket-keepers who could have been picked ahead of Ishan Kishan for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. If India wants to groom someone for this role, they could have opted for Jurel.
The 21-year-old is a fine talent and has already shown his skills at the domestic level. The management could have offered him a chance in the squad for the BGT. Apart from these two, there were a few other options. N Jagadeesan was a choice and since Wriddiman Saha is yet to retire, even he was a choice.
