Why is KS Bharat not playing today's 3rd India vs England Test?

Amid some forced and tactical changes for the third Test against England in Rajkot, India also dropped wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat from the playing 11. Dhruv Jurel, 23, replaced him for his international debut.

Although skipper Rohit Sharma didn't specify a reason at the toss on Thursday, Bharat's axing seemed to verify recent news reports which suggested that the team management had run out of patience for his lackluster batting form.

Despite being decent behind the stumps, he recorded scores of 41, 28, 17, and six, making it seven consecutive innings since his debut without a fifty.

It was felt that Jurel, who has 790 runs at an average of 46.47 from 15 first-class matches could offer more with the bat. It would also be good for him to debut in Rajkot on a surface that is expected to play flat instead of the coming Tests in Ranchi and Dharamshala which could have been more difficult venues to start.

Parthiv Patel had commented on KS Bharat's lack of runs

Speaking in an interaction on Jio Cinema on Wednesday, former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel called the dilemma between Bharat and Jurel a difficult one for India, but added that the former's lack of runs had put him in this position.

"Bharat has definitely kept brilliantly in this series so far and in the Australia series as well. As far as runs are concerned, yes you want runs from him. There is no doubt over it. You are expected to score runs and that is something which hasn't come in big numbers," he said.

"It's very difficult what you're looking at. You want runs from him without a doubt. It's up to team management. Yes there is instability at this point of time, you cannot deny that. But you got to take chances with whoever you have," Parthiv added.

Catch all live-action from the Test here.

​