Debasis Sen, Colombo: Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha on Monday blatantly dmitted that he doesn’t believe in sledging opposition batsmen. Unlike most wicketkeepers in modern cricket, Saha likes to do his gloves work behind the stumps do the talking rather than being vocal. And the biggest inspiration in this regard is his predecessor MS Dhoni.
“I haven’t seen MS Dhoni sledge ever. So it is not compulsory that you have to sledge. Sometimes (in order to unsettle opposition), we can twist things and say like the pitch is poor, or you have played a poor shot. That much is fine,” said Saha, when asked about his take on sledging.
The 32 year old stumper who is fast becoming a vital cog in the Indian test team does not hesitate to admit Aussie wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist as his idol.
“I liked Adam Gilchrist from childhood — both his batting and keeping style. I think of him as an ideal ‘keeper.
There are other wicketkeepers like Mark Boucher and Ian Healy. They were also good. But Adam Gilchrist is my favourite,” said Saha.
He loves being under the radar and is happy when his performance makes an impact in result.
“My childhood coach Jayanta Bhowmick used to tell me that if I do well then automatically your name will be prominent in selection circles. He told me not to play for myself but for the team whenever you get even small opportunity keep contributing to the team’s cause. I have tried to do that only. Even now I am only trying to do well for the team and if my contribution is there I will be very satisfied,” he added.
The Bengal wicketkeeper , who is joined here by his better half Romi and their little daughter Aanvi, was unaware of a unique milestone he will achieve when he will take the field against the Lankans in the final test match of the series. He will be playing his 100th first class match on August 12.
“I am just being told that this is my 100th first-class match. I didn’t know. It is a milestone but I will try playing as long as possible,” he said.
It’s been an emotional journey for Saha, who has toiled hard to reach this stage. Describing the journey from Sulguri to being the top wicket keeper in world, Saha said,”Coming from Siliguri, it was tough. When you come from outside the city it is tough because you have to work out accommodation, find out a good club and then think about getting opportunities. After all these, comes the performance.”
On the match, he was asked about clean sweep, Saha said: “We haven’t thought about 3-0. We believe in match by match process. We are leading 2-0 and in the next match, the aim is to produce a similar performance.”
Saha has taken some outstanding catches in his short international career spanning a little over two and half years. It was surprising to know that the stunner he took in SSC few days back to remove Mendis do not feature his top 3 list of catches.
On being asked to rate the top three catches he has taken so far, he said, “I have taken some stunners in domestic cricket but unfortunately they were not televised. I would rate the catch that I took to send O’Keefe back in the series against Australia at Pune as the No. 1, followed by AB de Villiers catch in Bangalore and Mathew Wade’s catch in Bangalore during the same series against Australia.”