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When Team India took the field on Day 3 of Kanpur Test, Wriddhiman Saha was missing as Srikar Bharat donned the wicketkeeping gloves. With Will Young's wicket in the first session, Bharat became the first wicketkeeper to take a catch in Test cricket without making his debut.
After claiming the catch off Ashwin's bowling, the substitute wicketkeeper also affected a stumping to achieve rare feat in Test cricket. In the second session, the 28-year-old stumped Tom Latham off Axar Patel's bowling and became third substitute wicketkeeper to do so in a Test match. The feat was first achieved by England's Neville Tufnell against South Africa in 1909/10. More than half a century later, New Zealand's Bevan Congdon too achieved the same feat against Pakistan in 1964/65 series. Now, after more than four decades, Bharat has added his name to the list.
Before Bharat, the most recent incident happened, was in a Test match played in Hyderabad between India and West Indies in 2018 when Jahmar Hamilton substituted without featuring in any international game for the injured Shane Dowrich.
Earlier the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had updated about Saha’s overnight stiffness of the neck.
"Wriddhiman Saha has stiffness in his neck. The BCCI medical team is treating him and monitoring his progress. KS Bharat will be keeping wickets in his absence," BCCI had said in a media statement.
From the second session of Day 2, India were struggling to break the opening partnership between New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Young. The duo went unbeaten after the end of the day’s play. However, in the ninth over of Day 3, Ashwin finally gave India a breakthrough and Bharat registered a record by dismissing Young.
Later in second session, Bharat also took another catch of Patel's delivery to dismiss veteran batter Ross Taylor.
