Wriddhiman Saha is comfortable batting at any position for the team

Wriddhiman Saha, the wicketkeeper of the Test side, has revealed that he is happy to bat at any position for the team’s cause. He batted at 7 in the first innings and at 8 in the second innings in the recently concluded first Test match against Sri Lanka. However, the Bengal cricketer feels that he along with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, are being rotated in the batting order and he has no issue with that.

Sri Lanka managed to escape with a draw in the first match of the three-match Test series. The match was marred by rain but both the teams made the match out of it on the final day as Test cricket was at its best. Indian bowlers literally caught the batsmen of the visitors off the guard and scalped seven wickets in just 26.3 overs before the play was stopped due to bad light.

Team morale was fantastic

Wriddhiman Saha was speaking to the reporters two days ahead of the second Test match in Nagpur when he expressed that he is most comfortable batting at 6 in the line-up. “It’s not that I always bat at No 7 [or No 8] as I have batted at No 6 also. We [along with Ashwin and Jadeja] are being rotated as batting position depends on the strength of the opposition bowlers. Favourable conditions determine the slots whether it is Nos 6, 7 or 8. It can be any position as per the team management’s call,” he said.

“The team morale was fantastic even though we couldn’t bat as per expectation in the first innings. But we made a good comeback in the second innings. Shikhar, Rahul and Virat batted well and when you get them seven down for less than 100, it automatically boosts your morale. May be with a bit more time at our disposal, we could have won. We tried hard but initially if we could have got the first few decisions quickly, it could have been different. But time was also a constraint as we first wanted to be safe and set a score that was unattainable and then attack. That was our gameplan so that bowlers would go all out,” he added.

The 32-year-old also believed that five specialist bowlers are required in a Test match to pick 20 wickets and also cleared that the team was concentrating on the ongoing series and not on South Africa tour. “You can only win Test matches by taking 20 wickets so preference is always given to bowlers. Now [if five bowlers are playing], you need contribution from everyone — myself, Ashwin and Jadeja along with lower order. I have always believed in match by match preparation. Yes, SA series is at the back of our minds but when you win a Test match, you take that confidence into the next game and that’s what we are trying to do,” Saha concluded.