In mere two-three days the wicketkeeper-batter Wridhhiman Saha has become a talk of the town. Few days back in an interview, Saha revealed the private conversation between him and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly which allegedly assured him that he would continue to be in the Test team after scoring 61 in the first Test against New Zealand last year.
Sourav Ganguly's brother and CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal) secretary Snehashish Ganguly has come up and denounced Saha for unnecessarily publicizing the conversation.
“This is my personal opinion, but what was communicated to him (Saha) by the chief selector/BCCI was private. He probably shouldn’t have gone public with that. Also, he could have played the Ranji Trophy. He cited personal reasons for pulling out and we have to respect that. The door is always open for him, whenever he wants to join the squad,” Snehashish said.
Earlier, right after his snub from India's Test squad for Sri Lanka home series, Saha revealed that Sourav had congratulated him after scoring a half-century against New Zealand at Kanpur, despite an injury, which led to KS Bharat keeping wickets and impressing the BCCI selectors enough to choose him over Saha.
"Talking about the same, Wriddhiman Saha told The Sunday Express: “After scoring 61 against New Zealand at Kanpur, Dadi (Ganguly) congratulated me over WhatsApp and mentioned, ‘As long as I’m here (helming the BCCI), you would be in the team’. Such a message from the BCCI president really boosted my confidence. What I’m struggling to understand is that how things have changed so fast."
Saha, along with veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, and batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were axed from the 18-member Indian squad for the two-Test series in March at home against Sri Lanka.
While Pujara and Rahane were axed due to their poor form, Saha and Ishant were reportedly told by selectors and Indian team management that they were moving towards having youngsters in the team, given that they were no longer first-choice players in the XI and hence will not be considered henceforth for the Indian team.
BCCI's selection committee's chairman Chetan Sharma, while addressing a virtual press conference announced India's Test squad for Sri Lanka series and implied that the board is now thinking about youngsters.
"Look, age isn't something we give a lot of credence. On what grounds Wriddhi has been dropped, we can't tell you. But there comes a time when you start thinking about youngsters when you don't play for long. Also I don't know why Saha is not playing Ranji Trophy. That's not my jurisdiction and that's what state unit must look into," Chetan had said.
Saha had further revealed in an interview, "Ten-twelve days later, I got a call from Chetan Sharma [chairman of selectors]. He asked me if I was playing Ranji Trophy. I said I hadn't decided yet. Then he went on to tell me what Rahul bhai had said. So I asked him if this decision was for just this series or for the upcoming series against Australia and England too. Then he paused for a couple of seconds and said, "From now on, you will not be considered."
