India wicketkeeper KS Bharat appeals successfully against New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson. (AP Photo)
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Shared News: November 28, 2021 8:01:01 am
The 28-year-old substitute for Saha had the flexibility of mind and speed of reflexes to make complex moments look natural.
After the first day’s play, Srikar Bharat was stretching in the corner of the ground, when a few teenage boys spotted him. “Woh RCB wala hai na? Six maarke match jeeta tha!” (He is the RCB player right? He hit a six and won a game). Bharat’s last-ball six against Delhi Capitals a couple of months ago is his instant connect with the fans. They fumbled for his name, before they gave up, though they squealed for a selfie, which a coyly smiling Bharat obliged. They yelled out a parting wish too, “Six maarke match jitwao!” (Hit a six and win the game).
Bharat responded with an all-knowing smile. He wouldn’t hit a six in the match; for he was not even in the eleven. He was, yet again, fated to be a nearly man. If Rishabh Pant was not fit for the England series, he would have made his Test debut; if Wriddhman Saha was not fit for this series, or if he had hurt his neck a day before, he would have been playing in this Test.
India’s substitute wicketkeeper KS Bharat removes the bails off as New Zealand’s Tom Latham is at least a foot and a half beyond the crease during the day three of their first test cricket match in Kanpur, India, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
But fate, in a twisted way, was kinder to him, as Saha sustained a stiff neck on Friday, giving Bharat his first outing in a Test match, but one that would not statistically count as he played as a substitute keeper. He ended and began the day as it is, someone waiting for his first Test appearance.
But between the end and start of the day, he demonstrated that he has the requisite standard to stake a larger claim in the playing eleven. It was a tough examination on an up-and-down wicket, an ordeal for keepers, which he passed with flying colours.
The stumping of New Zealand opener Tom Latham might be his most spectacular moment of the match, wherein his agility of mind and body stood out, but there were several other instances too. The moment Latham jumped down the track, he made that sideward shuffle, his hands following his feet in a harmony of muscles, in anticipation of a stumping. But what happened next was the stuff of nightmares, Latham bottom-edged it, and rather than collecting the ball from left-side, he had to gather from his right in less than a split second. What’s worse, the ball dropped on to the ground in an instant. Now he had to realign his eyes from the left down to the ground.
But Bharat had the flexibility of mind and speed of reflexes to make complex moments look natural. A lot of keepers would have groped at it, but he didn’t. The hands, like a good keeper’s, descended with the ball, the upper-body arched just enough, the knees flexed just enough to maintain the balance, as he gathered the ball and whipped the bails off in the blink of an eye.
India’s substitute wicketkeeper KS Bharat, right, leaps in air after he stumps out New Zealand’s Tom Latham, left, during the day three of their first test cricket match in Kanpur, India, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
