IND vs NZ: 3 Changes India might make for the second Test against New Zealand

3. Promoting Wriddhiman Saha higher up the order

This is not a personnel change, but more in terms of resource management for the Indian Men’s Test team. There has always been an ongoing battle for the place of the keeper in the Indian Test team. The young-yet-experienced Rishabh Pant has gotten the upper hand for a fair amount of time now in that regards. With him being rested this series, the 37-year-old Saha was given a run in the XI. 

The first Test at Kanpur saw Saha batting at No.7 (first innings) and No.8 (second innings) scoring a mere one in the first innings and upping that to a constructive 61 not out to put India in a competitive position in the second innings. 

Throughout his 11-years-long Test career, Saha has shown his versatility by positioning himself in different slots in the lower order. If we look at his stats across these positions, he has been more successful at the No.6 position averaging 35.67 in the seven innings he has played, than his usual No.7 slot. Not only has he managed to hold the fort at this position, but has even gotten a century and a 50 to his name. 

India’s current lower-middle order and tail-enders have been amongst the talks for quite some time now. Keeping this in mind, there’s no better time to promote Saha in the batting order than now, which will not compromise any other batsman’s position while still keeping Saha in force.

With the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel to come after him, promoting him will only provide the much-needed confidence he requires. The tactical change would mean that India might go in with the following batting order – Virat at No.4, Shreyas at No.5 and Saha at No.6 where he has been the most successful, followed by a whole load of batting from the three spin-bowling all-rounders.