High time India picks horses for courses in wicket-keeping: There are options to pick from; why aren’t we?

After a few months of slam-bang cricket, it’s time for India’s cricketers to get into the Test mode as India will take on Afghanistan in their inaugural Test in Bengaluru starting on June 14. India will then go to England for a five-match Test series, followed by a four-match Test series against Australia. In between, they will also be playing limited over cricket against Ireland, England and Australia which means Virat Kohli and his team’s management will have to pick horses for courses as the itinerary proceeds.

Talking about horses for courses, perhaps the biggest scope of experimentation that India has at the moment is in its wicket-keeping position. With the departure of Mahendra Singh Dhoni from the Test arena in 2014, India’s position for the gloveman has fallen vacant and with Wriddhiman Saha’s prolonged injuries and poor form with the bat, it becomes imperative for India to find somebody who can serve them consistently over a long period of time, especially in Tests.

It’s time for India to look beyond Dinesh & Parthiv for the Tests

Dinesh Karthik was picked for the Afghanistan Test and it was the sixth comeback to the national side for the diminutive batsman. But picking 33-year-old Karthik was more about rewarding him for his decent batting form at the moment than finding a long-term successor to Dhoni in Tests. India has another readily available replacement wicket-keeper in Parthiv Patel, also 33, but his skills with the gloves have always been suspicious. Patel’s last appearance in Tests was in South Africa earlier this year when he replaced an injured Saha.

But his keeping didn’t impress many, including his perfectionist skipper Kohli, and even his injury saw Karthik keeping in the third Test in Johannesburg that India won. Technically, though Karthik’s last appearance in Tests was against Bangladesh, way back in 2010 and while he has played just 23 Tests in 14 years since his debut in 2004, Patel has played only 25 since 2002. Clearly, none of these two players have given India a strong support in Tests all these years – both because of the presence of the tower called Dhoni and their own performances with the gloves that were far from extraordinary. While Karthik has affected 51 catches and five stumpings so far, Patel has taken 62 catches and made 10 stumpings. None of the duos have done great with the bat either with only Karthik having a Test hundred under his belt and that too against Bangladesh.

It is not to say that Karthik and Patel have passed their primes but their keeping abilities are far more suitable for the shorter formats, especially the Twenty20s, because of their decent hitting skills. India certainly needs to look beyond the duo in Tests.

What about KS Bharat in Tests?

If India are in the hunt for fresh blood to take guard behind the stumps in Tests, Andhra Pradesh’s Kona Srikar Bharat is a name to look for. The 24-year-old from Vishakhapatnam, who plays for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is a bright talent both the gloves and the bat. Having made his first-class debut in 2013, Bharat went on to become the first wicket-keeper batsman in Ranji Trophy to hit a triple ton in 2015 when he slammed 308 off 311 balls for Andhra against Goa.

Having trained with MSK Prasad, a former national side wicket-keeper and currently the chief selector of the BCCI, Bharat is known for his restlessness, something Prasad said he needed to work on to improve his game, an ESPN report said. Today, a veteran of 47 first-class games, Bharat has an average of 36 plus and has taken 178 scalps from behind the stumps – 19 of them through stumping. The man has all the ingredients to become a good wicket-keeper batsman in Tests if he can slightly improve his consistency. India has to try people like Bharat before the likes of Karthik and Patel exit from the scene so that they can get themselves ready for the international level.

Rishabh Pant

The 20-year-old from Uttarakhand has already made his name as a batting powerhouse and played in T20s for India. Pant is more known for his killing batsmanship and there were glimpses of his ability with the willow in the just concluded IPL as well. But this man is also a wicket-keeper, which is forgotten most of the times, thanks to his superman-like batting and India can think of investing time in him to see him grow like a worthy successor to Dhoni – a calm wicket-keeper who could murder any bowling with the bat on his day. Pant had an incredible form with the bat in the first-class cricket in 2016-17, even hitting a triple ton besides a number of centuries and he averages above 53 in first-class cricket and has a strike rate of 99-plus. He has taken 56 catches behind the stumps and taken seven catches. It will be unfair to label Pant only as a hitter in the short formats and give him opportunities to prove his mettle in Tests for he is young, fearless and a team man.

Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson, the talented wicket-keeper batsman from Kerala, has remained mostly a name in the IPL for some time now but the Indian selectors must look beyond the 20-over format and give the 23-year-old better and bigger chances to prove his worth. Samson has come a long way from a state where cricket is not as popular as it is in some other parts of the country and it is now time for him to take off to a higher level.

Samson made his first-class debut in 2011 and IPL debut in 2013 when he was still a teenager and has produced a great many performances that should have taken him to the doors of the national side by now. Samson, who has a decent skill with the bat and has done consistently well in the U-19 level, has nine hundreds in the first-class format with the highest score being 211. As the wicket-keeper, he has affected five stumpings and 61 catches.

It is difficult to predict who among them would go on to take up the baton in Tests, but it is high time that India’s selectors and team management now back one of these youngsters from Bharat, Pant and Samson to do the job. They are far too much looking back when it comes to the longest format and not preparing for the future and could found themselves stumped when the time will come to declare a new successor to the Saha-Karthik-Patel tradition.