India's wicked keepers debate: Rahul vs Bharat vs Jurel

Picture the worst-case scenario. India did when they went to South Africa last month. They knew they needed batting depth. But, like they do at home, they couldn't rely on their spinners for it because the conditions in Centurion and Cape Town were designed to negate them. So they had no choice but to sacrifice one of them to bring in a fast bowler. To cope with that loss, they gambled with the wicketkeeper's spot. The "u up?" text went to the better batter on offer.

Now that India are back in more familiar surroundings, where R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have proven their worth as wicket-takers and run-makers, their needs are a little different. The "u up" text is likely to go to someone else.

Does that mean KL Rahul's place is under threat? Yeah. Well, sort of.

Picture the worst-case scenario. England are baz-balling. Jonny Bairstow is running down the track with only one thing on his mind. But he misses the ball. Who do you want behind the stumps to take him out? A specialist or a part-ti--

"See, I don't think it's right to call Rahul a part-time keeper," Deep Dasgupta says. "He played the World Cup for India as a wicketkeeper. You need to have the skill to do that. The challenge for him is that he hasn't done the job in first-class cricket, in Ranji trophy cricket where you spend 90 overs or maybe even longer on the field in the heat and everything. So for wicketkeepers, as much as it is a skill, it's that repetition that is essential and you only get that by playing more matches. Because the skill is the same. It's just catching the ball. But doing it for long periods of time is what matters."

Rahul has been the designated wicketkeeper for only three of his 92 first-class matches, and none of them were played in India.

"On spinning pitches, against Ashwin and Jadeja, I don't think KL has faced that before," Dasgupta says. "I don't want to say that conditions in South Africa were easier for him as a keeper. But it will be different in India. A keeper in India is in play for almost four or five balls of the over. And there are 90 overs in a day. You have to show the same concentration level that you had at the start, at the end. That only comes with practice."

Saba Karim, another former India gloveman, says Rahul is "in sync" with the demands of wicketkeeping and that India were wise to use him abroad where, "most of the time you keep wicket to the seamers and that is less strain on the mind and body. But I think for a home series, India will have to go back to a regular keeper."

That brings us to KS Bharat, who had served as understudy to Rishabh Pant, and stepped up when he was injured. Bharat has been the designated wicketkeeper in 91 first-class matches, of which 82 have been in India, which have brought him a haul of 287 catches and 33 stumpings. India may consider those stats more vital to their current purposes than the number of runs he scores, which at the moment have not been a lot.

"I've seen KS Bharat," Karim says. "I've watched the Test matches that he's played. There's constant progress in his keeping skills. I think it's not easy keeping on such tracks the way India has prepared, [for] the last home series. Hopefully, I think KS Bharat will get more confident once he starts to put some valuable runs also to the side. They complement each other. As an allrounder, it is a complementary skill. One helps the other."

Bharat did manage a half-century against the England Lions in a two-day tour game in Ahmedabad earlier this month and followed that up with 116 not out in the unofficial Test that followed. If India see him as their best option behind the stumps to deal with the variations in spin and bounce that are typical of their home conditions, it probably leaves only one spot for two very good batters. There's the guy who made a century - one of their finest - in extreme conditions mere weeks ago - which was also his comeback to Test cricket after 10 months. And the guy who is their best player of spin.

"Shreyas [Iyer] might miss out," Dasgupta says. "That will be tough on him, of course, but KL is not going to lose his place in the XI."

The temptation to pick Rahul as keeper stems from the fact that India could then accommodate both him and Iyer in the same team. That means solid batting down to No. 6, with the allrounders at No. 7, 8 and 9. That's hard to say no to.

A wicketkeeper isn't just the sum total of catches they take, stumpings they make and runs they score. They are priceless sources of information to the bowler.

"He is a centre of attraction," former India spinner and chief selector Sunil Joshi says, "He can guide the captain how the opposition player is holding his bat, the way it is angled, how it is coming down, the pathways. He is basically the centre point of the team. A fulcrum, I would say. And for a spinner, we get tremendous confidence knowing that the guy behind the stumps is safe.

"I always had a great partnership with Avinash Vaidya and with [Somashekar] Shiraguppi at Karnataka because I knew they would tell me what the batter is trying to do. If he is looking to flick the ball without reaching the ball, that was the communication between me and both those keepers. Avinash used to tell me that, 'Jo, middle stump, he is a little leaving the crease on the back leg'. And that became a guideline for me, that okay, I can set him up that way. It was the same with Shiraguppi. Keepers are going to give you a clue where spinners can get better. If you ask me why Kul-Cha [Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal] were successful when MS [Dhoni] was keeping wicket. Because they knew, they were listening to MS where they needed to bowl. That is the value of a specialist keeper."

Joshi is also uniquely placed to offer insight on Dhruv Jurel, whom he coaches in domestic cricket. Jurel, 22, has played only 15 first-class games but finds himself in the Test squad to play England.

"First and foremost, he is so humble. He is so sincere towards the game. He has a great commitment towards his work ethic. Every time he comes back from an India A tour, he comes and has a chat. 'Sir, did you see my batting? Did you see my keeping? What do you think I can improve?'

"And every time we have a conversation, and he goes back to India A tournament or a Deodhar Trophy or any NCA camp, he comes back with more questions. He comes back more committed. And I feel so happy because here is a guy who takes so much responsibility. He wants to understand his game. He wants to improve every day, every session."

In England 2018 and later in the West Indies and South Africa 2023, India picked a wicketkeeper for his second skill. Is it possible that teams have started to look at this position differently? Has the balance shifted to the point that a keeper's batting ability takes precedence over his glovework?

"No, not in Test matches," Karim says. "And it should not because it is played over a period of five days. So you need a specialist. But I think the demands have changed because now you need a specialist keeper to be an allrounder."

"And it's not like previous keepers haven't been able to bat," Dasgupta says. "Rod Marsh, Alan Knott, this has been the case since the 70s. It's almost taken for granted [that only modern-day keepers have a second skill]. It's always been the case."

Even so, the profile of player going out and the one coming in told a tale. Bharat is considered to be India's best keeper but he was the one overlooked on each of those occasions first for Pant, then Ishan Kishan and finally Rahul.

"KS came through under our committee only," Joshi, who was on the selection panel between 2020 and 2022, says. "And he has done well as a keeper. But as a batter, what we expected, he didn't deliver. Not that he had to. We didn't pick him for his batting. But we expected him to contribute and he didn't do that [enough]. I still remember one of the first Tests which he kept when Wriddhiman Saha got a stiff neck in Kanpur against New Zealand, he kept tremendously on a low and slow wicket. But after that, he has done well as a keeper but not on those expected lines as a batter."

This is, of course, a textbook problem of plenty, with a bit of horses for courses thrown in, which is to say there isn't always a right answer. So let's just look at precedent. India went with Saha at home and Pant abroad for a fair bit because they like having the best keeper at home and the better batter abroad. That might be the case once again on Thursday in Hyderabad.