June 19, 2023 
By India Today Sports Desk: Former India captain Anjum Chopra has jumped to wicket-keeping batter KS Bharat’s defense, saying we must not be unfair to him. Bharat failed to perform with the bat as India lost the World Test Championship Final against Australia in London earlier this month.
Speaking to News18, Chopra said let's not be unfair to Bharat, adding that he kept really well in the WTC Final. Australia beat India by 209 runs to win their first WTC title at the Kennington Oval.
“He’s [Rishabh Pant] obviously a massive miss. But let’s not be unfair to KS Bharat. I thought he kept really well. That was his primary job – to keep wickets and he did it very well,” said Chopra.
She went on to say that we should not be focusing too much on Bharat’s batting performance in the WTC Final, insisting that his role is to assist the top and middle order batters. Bharat managed to score just 28 runs over the course of two innings against Australia in the WTC Final.
“If we say that we have to rely on his batting and because we didn’t have that kind of a performance that Rishabh Pant could provide the team, then I think, we are probably looking at it in a wrong manner. We have a top-order that is supposed to bat, a middle-order which is supposed to support, and a lower-order which requires to just assist,” Chopra added.
However, Chopra insisted that the sooner Rishabh Pant gets fit and returns to the side, the better. Pant was involved in an unfortunate and horrific accident in December last year and has been out of action since then.
“Rishabh is a quality player and the sooner he comes back, it’s better for him, for fans like me, and for everyone around,” said Chopra.
India is set to travel to the West Indies to face them in five T20Is, three ODIs and two Test matches.
July 20, 2024 
