KS-Bharat

Picture Credit: BCCI

The ongoing 1st Test match between India and New Zealand has been a roller-coaster in the first three days. It was the home side who dominated the opening day as they opted to bat first and were looking on course of posting a huge total at stumps. But the subsequent day did not really go according to the plan for them as the Kiwis bundled them out on 345 before their openers put up an unbeaten century stand.

Things were poised in a very interesting situation for both the sides on Saturday but there were quite a few differences from the Indian side that came to the field on Day 2 and Day 3. The spin trio looked more lethal as they started to get more assistance from the wicket and behind the stumps, there was KS Bharat in place of Wriddhiman Saha who had sustained a stiffed neck ahead of day's play.

Action-packed day for Bharat behind the stumps

As it turned out, the substitute wicketkeeper endured a very busy outing in Kanpur. He was called into action very early when he missed two sharp chances, one off the bowling of Ashwin and other off the bowling of Axar. However, he certainly redeemed himself by taking two brilliant catches to dismiss Young and Taylor before inflicting a fantastic stumping to send Tom Latham back to pavilion.

And as he grew in confidence because of his performance, he started to become more vocal behind the stumps. Bharat was constantly saying something or other to motivate his teammates. He was also heard speaking Tamil to Ashwin as he said, "Nalla Podriye" (You are bowling good).

However, something very hilarious happened when Blundell and Jamieson were stitching a partnership for the 7th wicket. At that time, the wicketkeeper was heard making a cheeky remark to Axar Patel saying, "Ek girne se line lagegi peeche" reflecting on the fact that one wicket could lead to a collapse for the Kiwis.

Watch the video here:

As it turned out, the left-arm spinner got some inspiration from Bharat as he dismissed Blundell few overs later before also taking the wicket of Tim Southee. Unfortunately, it wasn't followed by a flurry of wickets as predicted by Bharat as the New Zealand tail-enders showed resilience. However, the visitors were bundled out for 296 eventually.