Gautam Gambhir lashes out on former cricketers for picking KL Rahul over KS Bharat for Test Championship Finals

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir slammed former cricketers for picking KL Rahul over KS Bharat as wicketkeeper-batter in the Test Championship final, which is scheduled to take place in the month of June after the completion of the Indian T20 League at The Oval.

The former Kolkata franchise skipper asserted that India should play the “specialist wicketkeeper” instead of a “part-timekeeper.” “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 was quoted as saying on Sports Tak.

The 41-year-old also stated the Lucknow franchise skipper, despite having a brilliant record in England, should play as a pure batter instead of playing like a “wicketkeeper-batter”. “If you want to pick KL Rahul for the WTC final, then play him purely as a batsman,” the Delhi-born cricketer opined.

The longer runs they have got despite not being able to perform: Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir also backed Bharat, who had received harsh criticism for his keeping and batting in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Test series. “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,” said the left-hand batter.

“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,” the former Delhi franchise player said.

“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 added.