100% keeper-batter' Bharat ready to step in for Pant

Set to make his Test debut against Australia next month, wicketkeeper batter K S Bharat said he is ready to fill in the shoes of the injured Rishabh Pant and be a marauder like him too if the situation demands.

Pant has been a proven match-winner in Tests, who has changed the complexion of games from a hopeless situation. Most recently, his counter attacking efforts was instrumental in India's 2-0 Test series victory in Bangladesh.

India will surely miss the Pant in the four Tests against Australia after the southpaw suffered an unfortunate accident last month. This has opened up an opportunity for Bharat, who has had to sit on the sidelines since being part of the national set-up in the last couple of years.

The modern game demands the wicketkeeper to be an able batter and Bharat backs himself to excel in both the departments.

"I have always considered myself as 100 percent keeper and 100 percent batter. I don't consider myself a 70 percent batter or a 30 percent keeper. Whenever I walk into the field, I am as good as an opening batter and whenever I keep I think that I am the best keeper in whatever conditions are there or circumstances.

"Belief has been the biggest factor for me," the 29-year said after day three of the Rani Trophy game between Andhra and Delhi in New Delhi on Friday. He gave a glimpse of his batting prowess with a fine knock of 80, his 27th fifty in first-class cricket apart from nine hundred which also includes a triple ton.

Bharat doesn't know if he would be part of the playing XI for the first Test against Australia in Nagpur next month but he has absolute clarity in his mind on how to go about his game at any level.  

"Whatever the game demands, you have to step up. You cannot say you are only a T20 specialist or can play in one fashion. I have been fortunate to understand that from early age."

If he can bludgeon attacks, he can also produce a dead defence in order to secure a draw, said the Andhra man.

"If a Test match is to be drawn and I have to bat four hours straight, then I have to do that or if the team is chasing on day four, needing 100 off 10 overs,  I have to hit with that strike-rate so that the team benefits.

"End of the day, we play to win, there is no playing safe. If the game demands you have to score at 10 runs per over (in the longer format), you have to."

Bharat also added that keeping on a variety of tracks in Ranji Trophy has prepared him for the toughest of challenges.  

"I always look up to this challenge. Ranji is a preparation phase for the next level.  I would want to keep one full day or two so that you are tested to the maximum. If it is the 120th over, I would love to take a catch.
 
"If in every over something is happening, you are bound to be in the game but wickets like these where nothing is happening (like here at Kotla) and one game changing moment comes your away, you have to be alert to catch it," he added.