Wriddhiman Saha: A Man Whose Time Has Come

If good things do, in fact, come to those who wait, Wriddhiman Saha is in for the time of his life. Few cricketers have had to wait as long to fill a position they were a natural and perfect fit for.
 

- Anand Vasu

Soon after making his Ranji Trophy debut for Bengal back in 2007, Saha established himself as the premier gloves man in Indian first class cricket. Moving naturally on his feet, anticipating well, at ease standing back to the quick men and at his best close to the stumps against the spinners, Saha was the most skilled and agile wicket keeper since perhaps Nayan Mongia. And yet, despite making his Test debut in 2010, Saha would rack up just three Test matches in four years, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from the longest format in Melbourne.

And in this period, Saha was no stripling serving an apprenticeship. An attacking batsman who routinely produced blinders at the top of the order in the Indian Premier League, and a versatile enough player to bed down and dig Bengal out of a hole when needed, Saha would not have been wrong in expecting to have played much more cricket by his 30th birthday.

If there is one manner in which Saha is a very un-Indian wicket keeper, and a bit similar to Dhoni, it is in that he is largely quiet behind the stumps. Not for him the non-stop jabbering, the little barbs and jibes to unsettle batsmen or vociferous appealing at the merest sniff of a wicket.

When the window did open up long enough, though, Saha delivered with telling contributions down the order, scoring 40, 47 and 104 in India’s 2-0 series win in the West Indies.