Wriddhiman Saha's absence from Bengal's Ranji Trophy knockouts has been confirmed by the Cricket Association of Bengal President Avishek Dalmiya. Dalmiya said that the veteran wicketkeeper-batter made it official that he is ''not willing' to play for his home state team in the upcoming Ranji Trophy knockouts. This effectively brings an end to Saha's glorious career with the Bengal cricket team, with whom he made his Ranji debut in November 2007 and went on to play 122 first-class and 102 List A matches.
"The Cricket Association of Bengal wanted Wriddhiman Saha to play for Bengal at this crucial juncture especially when Bengal would be fighting in the Knockout stage in a bid to win the Ranji Trophy after becoming the top ranked team in the country at the end of the Group Stage," CAB president Dalmiya said in a statement.
"I had expressed this to Wriddhiman and had requested him to reconsider his decision. However, Wriddhiman has now communicated to us that he is not willing to play the Ranji Knockouts," the statement added.
Earlier, it was reported by Sportstak that the 37-year-old also left their official team WhatsApp group, making it clear that he has moved on. A CAB official said Saha has yet to seek a no-objection certificate (NOC) but the association would give him it once he asks for it.
Saha first pulled out of Bengal's Ranji Trophy group stage citing 'personal reasons' after he was excluded from the Indian Test team for the two-match home series against Sri Lanka in February. CAB assistant secretary Debabrata Das then made unsavoury statements against Saha in the media, questioning his commitment to infuriate the veteran wicketkeeper-batter.
Following his sublime form in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season for his franchise Gujarat Titans (GT), Saha was picked for the Ranji quarterfinal, which further annoyed him as 'he was not consulted before being selected'.
Saha reportedly sought an apology from Debabrata Das but after it did not materialise, he made it clear he is not going to play for Bengal again. ''There are many things in between. But now we are clear that he's not playing so that we can prepare accordingly for the big match,'' the official said.
Bengal will play their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Jharkhand in Bangalore from June 6.
