On Day One of the first Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia at Pune, India’s wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha showed just why he is the No. 1 choice for the keeper’s slot in the Test team. Saha, out of nowhere, took a stunning catch to get rid of Australian lower-order batsman Steve O’Keefe. The dismissal came literally out of nowhere, as the diving Indian keeper completed a screamer to hand Umesh Yadav his third wicket. The catch was not anticipated by even the Indian captain Virat Kohli as well as Saha’s teammates, let alone the fans and commentators. Expectedly, it earned him rich praise from all quarters.
Umesh was in the middle of a lethal spell, continuing from where he left in the one-off Test against Bangladesh. He had already got rid of David Warner and Matthew Wade by then and along with his teammates’ help, reduced Australia to 7 for 205 in the final session of Day One. In the 82nd over of the day, Umesh bowled a short and wide delivery outside the off stump to O’Keefe, who went after it. This is when Saha came into the picture.
The ball took the outside edge from O’Keefe’s willow and went flying towards the slip region. Just when it appeared it will fly over the area between first slip and Saha, the latter dived full length to his right and took a blinder. There was next to no reaction time and Saha did a brilliant job in holding on to the catch which arguably was the best you would have seen this season.
Watch Saha take the blinder here:
Check out how the Twitterati reacted to it:
https://twitter.com/imKhurram12/status/834716879742726145
Australia, after winning the toss, have put on 256 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets on Day One. The pitch in Pune, which is hosting its first Test, earlier made it to social media trends for its slow and dry nature. India, as we write this, are in a commanding position.