IND vs AUS 2023: He will get enough time to prove himself – Rohit Sharma on KS Bharat

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has put his weight behind under-fire KS Bharat, who has struggled to deliver the goods with the bat. While Bharat has done an excellent job behind the stumps but he has looked a bit at sea while batting at the crease.

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.

Furthermore, as Bharat doesn’t have much experience at the top level, he hasn’t been spot-on with the DRS calls. Bharat has scored only 57 runs in five innings at an average of 14.25 in the ongoing series but Rohit said they would give him a long rope in the team.

Earlier on Tuesday, Indian head coach Rahul Dravid had also backed the wicket-keeper bat.

“KS Bharat is new to DRS, something new for him. Give him more time to understand,” Rohit said.

“Slightly unfair to judge KS Bharat on these kinds of wickets. Need to give him some room. I told him to not worry, he will get enough time to prove himself,” he added.

“(Rishabh) Pant is a big miss, we know what he can do with the bat. And keeping he has done so well. Since Pant was not available, we got Ishan. Even when Ishan Kishan gets his chance, we won’t drop him after two games,” Rohit clarified.

Meanwhile, India was bundled out for a paltry score of 109 runs in the first innings at Indore and Rohit admitted they weren’t up to mark with the bat.

“Find your way to score runs no matter where you play,” he added.

“Maybe for the first time, tosses lost have meant games won in this series. We didn’t bat well enough in the last game, that’s what cost us the game.”

The fourth Test match will be played in Ahmedabad from Thursday.