Wriddhiman Saha has detractors. Yes, he does. Why? Maybe in the age of brawn and stubbles, Saha has neither. Or, maybe it is his deceptively feeble shoulders that give a notion that he is not strong enough to bear the weight of responsibilities. MS Dhoni had them strong and broad, and carried the burden well.
Saha has a hundred outside subcontinent under demanding circumstances. Even Dhoni has no international hundred outside Asia. Parthiv Patel is yet to score an international hundred. Saha is the only one to slam a hundred in an IPL final. Saha has won Man of the Match as an all-rounder, the other half of the skill-set being fabulous wicketkeeping. These are rare feats, more so given how invisible he remains.
But being the best wicketkeeper-batsman in India’s First-Class cricket is not a good enough criterion if you are entrusted with a role of filling Dhoni’s boots.
[read-also]570022[/read-also]
But Saha being Saha, is unperturbed of notions and perceptions. “I never get angry or frustrated. Even if you ask my family members, they would say it’s a problem that I don’t get angry,” said Saha after his hundred after Day Four’s play in Irani Cup 2016-17.
Saha’s detractors typically come up with the same argument: Saha may be a marginally better wicketkeeper but in this age, batting matters and that is where Parthiv, Naman Ojha, Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant comes into the picture.
His direct competition at the moment is with Parthiv. To put things into perspective…
Tests
| M | R | Ave | HS | SR | 100s | 50s | |
| Wriddhiman Saha | 20 | 733 | 28.19 | 104 | 43.41 | 1 | 4 |
| Parthiv Patel | 23 | 878 | 33.76 | 71 | 48.53 | 0 | 6 |
First-Class
| M | R | Ave | HS | SR | 100s | 50s | |
| Wriddhiman Saha | 92 | 5,257 | 43.44 | 203* | 43.41 | 11 | 29 |
| Parthiv Patel | 169 | 9,995 | 44.22 | 206 | 59.05 | 25 | 56 |
List A
| M | R | Ave | HS | 100s | 50s | |
| Wriddhiman Saha | 100 | 2,693 | 42.74 | 116 | 2 | 19 |
| Parthiv Patel | 160 | 4,086 | 28.77 | 119 | 2 | 27 |
T20s
| M | R | Ave | HS | SR | 100s | 50s | |
| Wriddhiman Saha | 146 | 2,383 | 24.82 | 115* | 130.64 | 1 | 12 |
| Parthiv Patel | 156 | 3,173 | 22.34 | 82 | 120 | 0 | 17 |
Numbers may mislead at times but they do not lie. There is not much to differentiate.
‘Waiting’ has been a part of Saha’s life. Debuting in 2010, Saha remained understudy to Dhoni for long. When Dhoni retired, Saha had his share of injuries. He missed the third Test in Sri Lanka in 2015 and the last three Tests against England last year.
India are the No. 1 in Test cricket. In a competitive environment like that, it is difficult to stage comebacks. Despite his triple-ton in India’s last Test, Karun Nair is not certain of a slot in the XI when India take field against Bangladesh at Hyderabad next month.
Parthiv’s domination
November 2016. Saha inflicted a Dhonisque run out at Visakhapatnam but injured his thigh in the game. Parthiv returned to the fold, scripted a fairytale comeback after eight years.
[read-also]570058[/read-also]
He scored 195 runs at 65, his strike rate touching 70; though he is still not par with Saha, his wicketkeeping skills have improved significantly. Two of his fifties came as an opener. That was Tests.
Parthiv’s honeymoon continued. He led Gujarat to their second Ranji Trophy final. They met 41-times champion Mumbai.
Parthiv’s 90 helped Gujarat to a 100-run first-innings lead. When Mumbai set Gujarat 313, Parthiv slammed 143 to guide Gujarat to their maiden title.
The little man had done enough to declare himself as first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman for the Test side.
Had he?
Irani Cup: Parthiv vs Saha
Parthiv vs Saha is usually a ‘happy headache’ for the team management. But however ‘happy’ it may be, it still is a ‘headache’. They both are likely to make it to the squad but the first XI holds the key.
Parthiv’s Gujarat took on Cheteshwar Pujara’s Rest of India (RoI) in the Irani Cup clash. Inside the contest was a mini-contest, between the wicketkeepers.
Gujarat put up 358. Parthiv was out for 11. He was unlucky to be at the receiving end of a howler in the second innings. RoI were bundled out for 226 and Saha was trapped plumb for an 11-ball duck. To add to his miseries, he dropped the in-form Chirag Gandhi.
Chairman of Selectors MSK Prasad was at the ground. Had Saha spilled a national berth?
“Even while playing for Bengal, I don’t think about playing for India if I perform well. I keep playing freely. He [Parthiv] is also trying his best, and so am I. I don’t take the pressure of performing well for the sake of playing for India,” Wriddhiman always keeps it simple and perhaps that helps him.
We think of the competitions but he does not.
Cometh the hour, cometh Saha
Both Virat Kohli and MSK rate Saha for a reason. They do not hesitate to hail him as the first-choice ’keeper despite brilliances from his peers.
ROI were 69 for 4 on Day Four. They were chasing 379. Manoj Tiwary, who leads Bengal, the state Saha plays for, had fallen for 8. Saha walked out to join skipper Pujara.
“I had decided that I would be positive. Driving through the ground was difficult here than clearing the field. That is much safer if you time the ball, it’s surely a four. Before coming here, I played two-three practice matches during Bengal’s preparation for the T20 league. That also helped,” Saha was brilliant playing on the up.
Meanwhile, Pujara played the waiting game.
Saha survived a few mistimed shots. He has lost his wickets in the same manner in Tests and has been rebuked for the same.
Caring little about the Jallikattu talks, Saha took the bull by its horn, smashing his maiden double ton and more importantly, winning it for his side.
Saha’s counterattacking 203 not out came at a strike rate touching 75, a knock that consisted 26 fours and 6 sixes. His national teammate and captain here, Pujara finished with an unbeaten patient 116.
The duo stitched an unbeaten 316-run stand for the fifth wicket. It was Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist at Hobart all over again.
Wriddhiman is buddhiman. He does not hesitate to experiment with his keeping or batting. He knows improvisation is part of the game.
In the first innings, the swing got him. To counter that and disrupt the length of Gujarat’s bowlers, he batted well outside the crease.
“We had lost wickets to the moving ball in the first innings. Even I got out that way. My plan to attack initially worked and then the bowlers started bowling shorter, which reduces the chances of being leg before or bowled,” he explained his method.
Winning the Man of the Match award, Saha was humble enough to share the credit his skipper. Humility is something you associate with this frail-framed champion.
“After my first innings dismissal, I decided to be positive against fuller deliveries. Pujara played well in both the innings and didn’t look like he would get out. That helped. Also, he didn’t bog me down by asking me to calm down. He asked me go for the shots,” he said.
Saha’s knock was amongst the finest this domestic season, as was Parthiv’s in the Ranji Trophy final.
Where does this place the two wicketkeepers? Let us put it like this: if the ’keeper has to play in the middle-order (considering KL Rahul and Murali Vijay are both fit), Saha is a better bet for his superior glovework. If a slot opens up at the top, Parthiv can still fill in as the opener.
Batting promotion
In recent times Saha has been pushed below Ravichandran Ashwin in the batting line-up, often coming in at No. 8.
For someone who averages in mid-40s in First-Class cricket deserves a higher slot. That is where he can be best utilised.
His role in the national side is to shepherd the tail. Saha excels in that, but Ashwin can be expected to do the same as well.
However, with Jayant Yadav being added to the fold and Ravindra Jadeja a regular down the order, the competition further stiffens.
It is up to the team management now.
Brief scores:
Gujarat 358 (Manprit Juneja 47, Chirag Gandhi 169; Pankaj Singh 4 for 104, Siddharth Kaul 5 for 86) & 246 (Priyank Panchal 73, Chirag Gandhi 70; Siddharth Kaul 3 for 70, Shahbaz Nadeem 4 for 64) lost to Rest of India 226 (Akhil Herwadkar 48, Cheteshwar Pujara 86; Chintan Gaja 4 for 60) & 379 for 4 (Cheteshwar Pujara 116*, Wriddhiman Saha 203*) by 6 wickets.
Written by 
