KS Bharat, who kept the wickets in place of regular wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha, who is nursing a stiff neck, on Day 3 of the first Test between India
and New Zealand at Green Park in Kanpur, took a blinder of a catch off
Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling to dismiss debutante Will Young. This was the catch
that changed the hue of the match with New Zealand getting bowled over for 296.
At Day 3 stumps, India took 63 runs lead, with nine wickets in hand.

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In the 67th over of the New Zealand
innings, Bharat took a brilliant catch but the umpire rejected his appeal. He
immediately approached his captain Ajinkya Rahane for review. Rahane then
turned towards Ashwin who also pressed for a review. 

Veteran off-spinner Ashwin, who had been
toiling hard since Day 2, got one to just skid through the surface. What added
to Young’s woes was the low bounce. He tried to dab it off the backfoot but
instead got a slight edge.

Bharat, who plays for Andhra Pradesh in
domestic cricket, showing his sharp reflexes, took a brilliant catch. Umpire
Nitin Menon, however, was not convinced. Bharat was convinced that Young got an
edge and insisted Rahane go for the DRS. Seeing his young keeper’s confidence,
Rahane went for the review and it proved to be the right one and a game-changing
call.

Young scored a fine 89 on debut. With his
dismissal, a 151-run partnership came to end and India finally got back into
the game. It was 26-year-old Bharat’s maiden dismissal in international
cricket.

In IPL 2021, Bharat played eight matches
and scored 191 runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

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New Zealand were bowled out for 296 with
Axar Patel taking a fifer and Ravichandran Ashwin taking three wickets.

Earlier winning the toss, India scored 345
in their first innings. Debutant Shreyas Iyer slammed 105 while Shubman Gill
and Ravindra Jadeja scored 52 and 50, respectively.