4 wicketkeepers India could try in the Test series against Australia
After the exit of Narayan Mongia from international cricket in 2001, India struggled to find a wicketkeeper-batsman and had to try six different wicket-keepers (Samir Dighe, Vijay Dhaiya, Ajay Ratra, Deep Dasgupta, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik) in Test cricket before finding a long-haired maverick in 2004-2005.
Dhoni had stamped his authority as the prime wicket-keeper batsman for India by 2008. He took 256 catches and effected 38 stumpings along with amassing 4876 runs in 90 Test matches at a decent average of 38.09. Just like after the exit of Mongia India had to struggle to find a wicket-keeper batsman India is struggling to find one after the retirement of Dhoni. After Dhoni's departure, India has tried five different wicket-keeper batsman (Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant) without much success with Saha being the only success but he too has been sidelined with injuries.
In this list, we take a look at the top 5 contenders for the wicketkeeper-batsman slot in the Indian batting lineup.
#4 Ishan Kishan
Ishan Kishan is a left-handed opener who represents Jharkhand in the Ranji trophy. He became a known figure among the cricket enthusiasts when he was named the captain of India's 2016 U19 World Cup team.
He had a miserable U19 World Cup as he was only able to manage 73 runs in six innings at an average of 12, but he soon managed to turn his fortunes in the 2016-17 Ranji season scoring 799 runs at an average of 57. The left-hander was Jharkhand's highest run-getter in the 2017-18 season with 494 runs from 6 matches.
The left-hander got picked for the 2017 IPL season by Gujrat Lions for 35 lakhs. He was then brought by Mumbai Indians for a whopping 6.2 crore bid this year. He scored 275 runs for the Mumbai Indians at a strike rate of 149 and was as safe as a house behind the stumps. The southpaw can be a dark horse in the race for the wicketkeeper-batsman slot.