A debut at 29 is quite a rarity in Indian cricket, across formats. Suryakumar Yadav made his international debut at 30, but then, 'Mr 360' is a rarity in every sense.
A decade after making his first-class debut for his home state Andhra Pradesh against Kerala, wicketkeeper-batter Kona Srikar Bharat, 29, made his debut for India today in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia, in Nagpur.
With Rishabh Pant out injured and Ishan Kishan yet to convince the team management of his skills in red-ball cricket, Bharat has got a finally chance to prove his worth. Recent memory would throw up his exploits in the IPL 2021 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, including the match-winning last-ball six against Delhi Capitals. He has been signed by Gujarat Titans for Rs 1.2 crore for the upcoming season of the league.
Not many would remember that, in 2015, Bharat became the first wicketkeeper to score a triple century in Ranji Trophy – he scored 308 in 311 balls against Goa – and the fifth in first-class cricket history. In 86 first-class matches, he has scored 4,707 runs at an average of 37.95 with nine centuries and 27 fifties.
Bharat has been waiting in the wings for long. He has been part of the Test squad earlier – in 2019, as a cover for Wriddhiman Saha against Bangladesh, and in 2021 against England, again as a cover for Saha. In 2022, he was in the squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka and then in the one-off Test against England.
In the Kanpur Test in 2021, he substituted for Saha and delivered three brilliant dismissals, and impressed all with his work behind the stumps. With a dry patch on one side of the pitch in Nagpur, the ball is expected to turn from day one itself and a good wicketkeeper will be the need of the hour.
Bharat had once shown admirable skills keeping upto Ravichandran Ashwin on a low bounce Green Park track in Kanpur, and that might have helped him get his maiden Test cap over Kishan. The latter has not kept for his Ranji Trophy side Jharkhand in the past two seasons—Kumar Kushagra keeps for Jharkhand in red ball even when Kishan plays.
Former chairman of selectors MSK Prasad had thrown his weight behind Bharat in the run-up to the Nagpur Test. "He (Bharat) has been groomed for this role even in presence of Rishabh Pant for the past two years. So, it is only fitting that Bharat is given the first chance to don the big gloves. He is ready."
The team management, too, seems to have agreed with Prasad.
