Srikar Bharat: I only had 12 minutes to get set for the game

KS Bharat. Pic/AFP

India's substitute wicket-keeper batter Srikar Bharat said he just had 12 minutes to get ready after being asked to get behind the stumps on the third day of the ongoing Test against New Zealand here on Saturday. A seasoned first-class cricketer, Bharat, who has been an India A regular for past three years, was asked to do the wicketkeeping after Wriddhiman Saha complained of stiffness in his neck, minutes before the third's day play.

"I was doing my morning routine and then the support staff told me to get ready. I only had 12 minutes to get set for the game," KS Bharat said in a video posted on BCCI TV. Bharat was in conversation with spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin after the day's play. Bharat gave a good account of himself on a pitch that had variable bounce with odd ball keeping really low and one or two climbing up from the spot. The 28-year-old took two very different catches and produced a smart reflex stumping which could have gone wrong because of the uneven bounce. Bharat first held on to a faint edge from Will Young which kept low to produce a breakthrough and then dismissed Ross Taylor with another superb catch.

Talking about the dismissal of Young of Ashwin's bowling, Bharat said, "I knew the time I walked in that the ball is keeping low, so the best chance is to be behind the ball and keep making adjustments." Patel also spoke about dismissal of Tom Blundell. "Tom was playing defensive, so I switched to low-arm bowling. Such type of delivery won't give time to batter to prepare for anything, and I just got him," said Patel. At stumps on Day 3, India were 14 for one, leading by 63 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara (9) and Mayank Agarwal (4) at the crease.

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