'You are a victim of politics,' legendary wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani opens up on Wriddhiman Saha reportedly being dropped from Test team

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SportsTak

SportsTak

Indian wicketkeeper Wrddhiman Saha recently opted out of Bengal’s Ranji Trophy campaign, after he was informed that he will not be available for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. It is believed that the veteran wicketkeeper will not be featuring in Ranji Trophy for the Bengal side.

 

The two-match Test series between India and Sri Lanka will start on March 4, in Mohali. Rishabh Pant and KS Bharat are expected to handle the role of wicketkeeper in coming times. 

 

 

Saha's last Test

It is important to mention that the 37-year-old Bengal-born wicketkeeper had last played in the longest format of the game, last year against New Zealand, in Mumbai. In that match, Saha had scored 27 and 13 runs in two innings respectively and the hosts had won the Test match by a whopping margin of 372 runs. 

 

In a situation like this former World Cup-winning Indian wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani has opened up on the issue. Kirmani believes that Saha “is still the best wicketkeeper” and he also suggested Saha not to be “upset.”

 

“No doubt, Wriddhi is still the best wicketkeeper. But Rishabh Pant is getting chances for his aggressive batting. Even at 37, Wriddhi is still the best wicketkeeper. He should not get upset. Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel were also replaced in the same fashion,” said the 1983 World Cup-winning wicketkeeper-batsman while speaking to mid-day. 

 

“You did a splendid job for India and never bowed down in these years, which is commendable. You are dropped because you did not belong to any particular group, you are a victim of politics. I will remember you as a very fine wicketkeeper”, the 72-year-old former wicketkeeper added.

 

 

Facts and stats

Saha has played 40 Test matches and scored 1353 runs at an average of 29.41 and with three hundreds in his kitty. His highest score has been 114 in the longest format of the game. In ODIs he has donned the national jersey 9 times.

 

Saha had 104 dismissals behind the stumps. Out of these 104 dismissals, 92 are catches and 12 are stumpings. 

 

Indian team are currently taking part in the three-match ODI series against West Indies in Ahmedabad and after the completion of the ODI series, the two teams will take on each other in a three-match T20I series, scheduled to be played in Kolkata. 

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