IND vs AUS 2023: We are not concerned – Rahul Dravid on KS Bharat’s form

While India’s rookie wicket-keeper bat KS Bharat has done well behind the stumps keeping to the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, his batting performances haven’t been spot-on. However, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid is not concerned regarding the right-hander’s form and feels it has not been easy to bat on difficult pitches.

Bharat scored a nice little cameo of 23 runs from 22 balls in the second innings of the Delhi Test to help India chase down 115 runs. The 29-year-old from Andhra Pradesh scored a decent knock of 17 runs in the first innings in the third Test match at Indore but he was dismissed cheaply for three runs in the second essay.

Bharat has scored only 57 runs in five innings at an average of 14.25 in the ongoing series but Dravid went on put his weight behind him.

“We are not concerned,” Dravid said in the press conference.

“It again comes to a question of perspective and understanding of some of the challenges and conditions that he has kept in and even though it’s not a big contribution but he got 17 in the first innings.

“Got a nice contribution in Delhi where he played positively, and you need a little bit of luck in these conditions and he hasn’t probably had that, and he is shaping really well and keeping really nicely for us. So we need to put batting performance in perspective,” he added.

Meanwhile, India lost the third Test match by nine wickets and they will need to come up with a better batting performance as they could only manage scores of 109 and 163. The top and middle order hasn’t been able to fire at all cylinders and they will be looking to make a substantial contribution.

The fourth Test match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from Thursday onwards.