INDIA TOUR OF SRI LANKA, 2017
Understated Saha continues to deliver telling performances under pressure
A complete contrast to MS Dhoni's swagger and authoritativeness, Saha, however, has managed to deliver the goods under pressure for India © AFP
For years, Wriddhiman Saha waited longingly as MS Dhoni ran the show for the Indian Team. Saha was considered the better 'keeper, and a stodgy batsman, but as long as Dhoni was around he wouldn't get the chance.
Finally, when Dhoni stepped down in 2015, Saha's time had come. In just over two and a half years since he got his spot, Saha has gone on to become one of India's most prized assets. And Virat Kohli confirmed the same when he said that he felt Saha was the best in this format.
What makes Saha even more valuable is that he will never wrap his head around how big he is for the side. You don't see him shouting at the fielders, or asking bowlers to change their plans. You don't see him get agitated after a mix up either, or look at a fielder grudgingly after a catch is dropped. He isn't frustrated when a throw is too long, or if there was bad bounce, he doesn't care if another player is trying to throw the ball back hard at the batsman, and maybe putting him in the firing line too.
Instead, he quietly contributes in his own way. He is always looking at fields and getting the angles right. He has started to have his own voice during the DRS meetings. He effects stumpings and run-outs and takes the catches that come his way. Saha might come off as aloof, soft-spoken, but he is a team man in every sense.
"I try to be the same way in the Indian dressing room the way I am with Bengal. I always go about my routine and do everything that I am asked to with a smile. Maybe he (Kohli) appreciates that since he expects that from everyone," he had recently said in an interview to Hindustan Times.
But Kohli surely sees more in Saha than just that he does what he is told. Saha is no novice cricketer. He's just one short of playing 100 First-Class games. He has tons of experience and ability to do things beyond just what the captain asks him to. Saha has become India's man for crisis, as much as he's the man when they want to cash in.
In Sri Lanka last year, Saha's fifties were the difference between the team scoring 250+ totals and 350+ totals in Galle and SSC. In St. Lucia, with India deep in trouble at 126/5, Saha scored a vital hundred and laid the platform for a victory. In Kolkata, in seaming conditions and against a quality New Zealand side, he made two fifties in two innings. In Ranchi, he once again rescued India with a superb hundred lower down the order. He did the same at the SSC.
However, as a specialist 'keeper, Saha's only currency is not the amount of runs he makes in front of the wicket. What he does from behind matters as much, too. Over the course of the past season, Saha has proved time and again why he is the best 'keeper, especially in Indian conditions.
Saha doesn't ooze oomph and style the way MS Dhoni did. He doesn't cleverly flick the ball on the stumps when the batsman least expects it, or effects stumpings that you might miss if you batted an eyelid. Saha is more classical, more old school.
Keeping to spinners as it is, is a tough job. You'll have to be wary of what the bowler is trying to do, you'll have much lesser time to react, you have the batsman and at times his bat dangerously close to your face. You'll have to make do with other players standing quite close to you, and be on the constant look out for stumpings.
At the SSC, with the pitch helping spinners turn the ball a mile, Wriddhiman Saha put in a performance for the ages. And the fact that it is not being applauded widely is an underlining of how well Saha did. The runs scored, the wickets taken and catches completed are all on the board, but there is no meter for how many times Saha reacted quickly to stop the ball. The pitch at the SSC was crumbling like pastries. Every time the ball took a piece off it, there was no saying where it would eventually end up.
But Saha had almost everything in control. With the batsman preferring to sweep constantly, Saha's job got tougher. The chances of edges flying were higher, and thus chances of injuries too. And both Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were bowling much faster to ensure they could make the most out of the pitch. It made their job so much easier that Saha was behind the stumps.
Whether there was a zooter down the leg side, a ball that spun sharply out of nowhere, one that bounced higher than it was supposed to, or one that shot in low, Saha was able to stop them all. On a pitch where the Sri Lankan batsmen were constantly being bamboozled, Saha stood as calm as a monk and collected them all.
His three dismissals in the second innings of the game were indicative of how skillful and dextrous he is. When Mendis inside-edged Hardik Pandya and the ball looped up wide of Saha, the 'keeper was the first to react. Even as the batsman wondered where the ball was headed, Saha was motoring down towards the ball before taking it inches off the ground. The catch to dismiss Angelo Mathews was all the more special. Jadeja was giving the ball quite a rip, Mathews stayed on the backfoot and shaped to cut. The bounce from the wicket made it hard, but Mathews went through with the shot. A thick edge resulted, but Saha had his gloves in the right place. Even when things were happening lightening quick, Saha was able to judge the bounce and get the gloves in the right position for the catch. When Dilruwan Perera stepped out and missed a drive soon after, Saha had the bails off in a flash. Two half chances and one proper chance - three dismissals. That's what Saha provides to the team.
Now, if only he becomes more authoritative and accurate while predicting DRS outcomes, but those could be the exceptions to the rule that Saha is a vital cog in the Indian juggernaut.
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