Wriddhiman Saha acknowledges Virender Sehwag for his double ton in Irani Cup

Team India first-choice wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha silenced all his critics by smashing a match-winning double century in the Irani Trophy match against Ranji champions Gujarat to help Rest of India chase down a formidable 379 in the 4th innings with 6 wickets left. With him, Indian middle order mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara who was captaining ROI also chipped in with a crucial century.

The Irani Trophy match was also seen as a battle between Wriddhiman Saha and Parthiv Patel for the wicket-keeper’s slot in the national side. While Virat Kohli made it pretty clear before Parthiv’s inclusion in the Test side for the England series that Saha will continue to remain their 1^st choice keeper, some solid performances from the southpaw in the Tests series followed by a match-winning century in the Ranji final had given Saha a sterner fight for the wicket-keeper’s slot but the latter came out with flying colours.

Saha was ruled out for the last three Tests of the 5 match series and Parthiv who came in as his replacement struck some valuable half-centuries at the top of the order to get India off to a decent start in most of the matches. The scintillating double century from the Bengal lad will surely help him to cement his place in the Playing XI. Saha who recently struck his maiden Test century against West Indies credited former Indian opener Virender Sehwag for his success.

Saha struck some lusty blows during his unbeaten 203 which included a lot of lofted shots. Sehwag had suggested him to begin his innings with a few big shots which ease the pressure automatically and leaves the bowlers rattled. “Most of the shots that I played in the innings were lofted. Actually, it was Sehwag who once told me that if I can hit a couple of boundaries early in my innings (with lofted strokes), it automatically eases the pressure and also can get the bowlers rattled,” Saha was quoted as saying by News18.com.

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“So, all I was thinking was to go after the bowlers with lofted strokes. He (Sehwag) suggested that I should not curb my natural stroke play. If a ball is there to be hit, I should go after it,” Saha added.

Saha’s 203* was his maiden double century in his first-class career.