The day has come and we all are waiting for the 2nd world test championship final to begin. The 2 teams who have played some extraordinary cricket in this edition of the World Test championship cycle will now be showcasing their resilience, determination, and skills to win the Test championship mace. Now the big question Ishan or Bharat who will play?
India has been playing some good cricket with some consistency, but they tend to a lot when it comes to choosing the playing XI. Here the question is in the absence of Rishabh Pant India has played matches in the recent past but the talk here is about whether they should go with Ishan or Bharat. Ishan has been in talks since Rishabh’s injury as both players play a similar brand of cricket, but will it be the right decision to play Ishan Kishan in these tough English conditions?
If you compare KS Bharat, he has played the whole series against Aussies in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Ishan is yet to debut in Test cricket and this will be something very big for him and the team as this is a Final where pressure will be always on. Aussies are the greats in the game of the final, there is a handful of 3 times where Australia lost a final match of a tournament, the most recent was in 2010.
Now let’s deep dive into the discussion of how both the Indian keepers are in contention of playing in the finals. We all know Bharat is the first-choice keeper but when you see Ishan you also get that destructive number 6 or 7 batting whereas Bharat is more of a technical player with a lot of patience. Ishan definitely lacks in patience which we all have seen in IPL or when he represented India also. Bharat in the last series against Aussies played formidably well.
Bharat has played 4 test matches and scored 101 runs with an average of 20.2 and with a strike rate of 59.4. He scored the highest of 44 with 8 boundaries and 5 sixes his wicket-keeping stat states he took 7 catches followed by 1 stumping this whole stat is of the recent India Vs Australia test series (BGT). His brand of cricket is different from Ishan’s. His abilities are undoubtedly good as a test cricket and should be backed by the team.
Now let’s see Ishan’s First-class career stat Ishan has played 48 matches with 2985 runs under his belt. His highest score is 273 he has an average of 38.76 with a strike rate of 68.90, he has got 6 Centuries and 16 Fifty following 361 boundaries and 67 sixes to it. As a wicketkeeper, he took 99 catches and produced 11 stumpings. The major talk about him in the recent past was about his keeping abilities which he has overcome a lot. He is very good with his wicket-keeping abilities currently. Learning is the key he has shown that.
Stats at the first-class level is favorable but it’s international cricket and when you step into the international format the game changes. Playing the ultimate form of cricket is something everyone dreams of if he gets a chance today that will be a moment where he has to be calm and patient and try a deliver when the moment arrives for him. So who will play Ishan or Bharat today?
Whatsoever there is still no confirmation about the playing XI because captain Rohit Sharma Quoted to the media in the press conference that “We have told all the 15 players to be ready as after assessing the conditions we will be forming the playing XI”. England’s wicket tends to change day by day session by session depending upon the weather hence it is a correct decision to see what’s there on the pitch in the morning and how’s the weather. Whether it be Ishan or Bharat India should lift an ICC trophy as it has been a long wait for the players and the fans too.
