IND vs ENG: KS Bharat to travel to England as cover for Wriddhiman Saha
Andhra Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat has been roped in as cover for Wriddhiman Saha, and will be travelling with the Indian squad to the UK for the long England tour.
India will begin their tour of England with the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand in Southampton from June 18. This will be followed by a five-match Test series against England.
Saha, who had tested positive for COVID-19 while representing Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2021, has only recently recovered from the Coronavirus.
Saha was reunited with his family on Wednesday after completing his isolation. On Tuesday, he confirmed on Twitter that he had recovered from COVID-19.
While Saha is expected to join the Indian contingent in Mumbai on May 24, the selection committee decided to add KS Bharat as cover, keeping the COVID-19 factor in mind. A source was quoted as telling ANI:
"He (KS Bharat) was added as cover for Saha considering he was still recovering from the virus and wicket-keeping is a specialised job. If Saha wasn't fit in time, we would have needed a second keeper in the squad for the tour which is a three-month long one."
Some members of the Indian men’s and women’s contingent for the England tour, including Ravichandran Ashwin and Mithali Raj, landed in Mumbai today.
As per rules, BCCI had made it mandatory for all players and staff members to undergo three RT-PCR tests before assembling in Mumbai.
The testing will continue during their two-week quarantine in Mumbai. The Indian players will also be administered the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the UK.
Who is KS Bharat?
KS Bharat is a 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Andra Pradesh. In February 2015, he became the first wicketkeeper to score a triple century in the Ranji Trophy.
KS Bharat has been called up as a cover to the Indian team earlier as well. In fact, he was called up as a back-up for Saha for the second Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.
In January last year, he was again added to India's squad for the ODIs against Australia, after Rishabh Pant suffered a concussion.
At the IPL 2021 auction, KS Bharat was purchased by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for his base price of INR 20 lakh.
KS Bharat has featured in 78 first-class matches so far and has 4283 runs to his name at an average of 37.24, with nine hundreds and 23 fifties.