Vizag cheers as city boy K.S. Bharat makes Test debut versus Australia

The 29-year-old has made the most of several opportunities that have come his way to secure a place in the national side

A long wait to earn the call-up to the Indian men’s Test side has finally ended for city-based wicketkeeper-batsman K.S. Bharat as he took to the field wearing the national cap at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur in the first match of the India-Australia Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) that began on Thursday.

Wishes began pouring in for the 29-year-old from all quarters after television visuals showed senior Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara handing the Indian cap to Bharat. Congratulatory tweets from the city and across Andhra Pradesh began flooding Twitter as Bharat took guard behind the stumps.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated Bharat on his selection and said that the Telugu flag continues to fly high. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan, Tourism Minister R.K. Roja, TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, former Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao and former cricketer from Visakhapatnam, Y. Venugopala Rao, were among many who congratulated the cricketer.

It was during the fag-end of 2019 when Bharat was named in the men’s squad by the BCCI for the Pink Ball Test held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata between India and Bangladesh. Since then, he was selected for many bilateral Test series at home and away against various teams. However, he failed to make it to the final Playing XI, but was utilised as a back-up keeper in some matches. With the unavailability of left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, the BCCI decided to pick Bharat and Ishan Kishan for the first two of the four-match BGT series, with Bharat getting a chance to play in the first Test.

After receiving his maiden Test cap, Bharat celebrated the moment with his family members. A picture of Bharat embracing his mother went viral on social media.

“It was a long wait for Bharat. He is a stylish batsman with a bright future. We have seen many good performances of his at the ACA-VDCA YSR Cricket Stadium. There are no doubts regarding his wicket-keeping skills and hope he has a great run in the BGT series,” M Hari Shankar, a cricket fan, posted on Twitter.

In the course of the match, Bharat’s credentials got a massive boost after he emphatically signalled to captain Rohit Sharma to go for a DRS (decision review) after the umpire had turned down an LBW appeal against Usman Khawaja in the second over of the match. The appeal went in India’s favour. Soon after, he effected a smart stumping to dismiss a well-set Marnus Labuschagne (49 runs) in the 36th over, much to the delight of the crowd in the stadium as well as those watching back home.