Wriddhiman Saha ready to play white-ball cricket for India if the opportunity comes

Wriddhiman Saha made an impressive return to the Indian side after a break of 22 months against South Africa and though he didn’t get to do much with the bat, but was superlative with the gloves behind the stumps. He was chosen to keep wickets ahead of young Rishabh Pant, who had done well with the bat in Saha’s absence, but his keeping has been below par.

Saha, suffered from a shoulder injury during the 2018 tour to the rainbow nation and then suffered a finger injury during the IPL 2018 and was ruled out for the remainder of the year after having surgery to fix both injuries. However, despite MS Dhoni’s career waning off in white-ball cricket, Pant is still the first-choice stumper in the ODIs and T20Is, despite visible struggle with the bat and poor glove work. Saha, on the other hand, has said that he wants to play for the Men in Blue and is ready off opportunity comes his way.

“I enjoy playing the shorter format the most,” says Wriddhiman Saha

Saha has played nine ODIs for India and has 41 runs to show for it. In IPL, however, he has 1765 runs in 120 matches at an average of 23.85, including a brilliant century in 2014 finals for Kings XI Punjab against Kolkata Knight Riders. In List A cricket, Saha has 2762 runs in 102 matches, at an average of 42.49.

“Honestly speaking, I enjoy playing the shorter format the most. I am ready to deliver whenever I get a chance to play for India at any stage. So I am still prepared to play limited-overs cricket for India if the opportunity comes,” Saha was quoted as saying by Firstpost.

He was also asked about the first-ever day-night Test in India that will be played at the Eden Gardens, his home ground against Bangladesh starting November 22. “We will have to face the challenge of playing under the lights. I have played in a club match under lights, but this will be an international match. Last time it was a Kookaburra ball and this time it will be SG ball and hence we will see a major difference. Also, dew can create a problem for the bowlers. For ‘keeping, more than dew, the visibility of the pink-ball can be an issue,” the Bengal stumper added.

Saha also mentioned that he is focusing on staying fitter for long durations as he cannot lament upon time missed due to previous injuries and he knows that recovery time for a 20-year-old would be faster than a 35-year-old for the same type of injury, hence he needs to be much fitter.

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