Wriddhiman Saha

Wriddhiman Saha

Personal information
Full name	Wriddhiman Saha
Born	(1984-10-24) 24 October 1984 Saktigarh, Siliguri, West Bengal, India
Nickname	Papali, Pops
Batting style	Right hand bat
Role	Wicket-keeper, Middle order Batsman
International information
National side	India
Test debut	6 February 2010 v South Africa
Last Test	21 November 2016 v England
ODI debut	28 November 2010 v New Zealand
Last ODI	2 November 2014 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2007–	Bengal
2008-2010	Kolkata Knight Riders
2011-2013	Chennai Super Kings
2014-present	Kings XI Punjab
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 20 9 91 100 Runs scored 733 41 5054 2693 Batting average 28.19 13.66 42.11 42.74 100s/50s 1/4 0/0 10/29 2/19 Top score 104 16 178* 116 Catches/stumpings 31/7 17/1 212/30 123/15
Source: Cricinfo, September 21, 2016

Wriddhiman Saha (born 24 October 1984) is an Indian cricketer. Saha has played International cricket for India and represents Bengal in India domestic cricket and the Kings XI Punjab in Indian Premier League. He is also the first and only cricketer to score a century in the Indian Premier League final.

Domestic career

Saha made it through the ranks of the youth system, playing for the Under-19s and the Under-22s team before stepping up to first-class cricket. Saha made his one-day debut in the Ranji Trophy competition of 2006/07, against Assam. While he did not get the chance to perform with the bat during this game, he scored a duck in his debut innings in the following match. As he was nearing the end of his brief run in the Ranji Trophy, he played three one-day games for the East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy.

Saha made his first-class debut in the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy, against Hyderabad he scored 111 not out, becoming the 15th Bengal player to score a hundred on Ranji debut. Saha also made the East Zone team in the Duleep Trophy in the 2007-08 season.

Saha’s incredible century for Bengal on his Ranji debut shot him to fame and was significantly important in landing a contract with IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008. Saha played a major part of the tournament – thanks to the 4 foreigners rule and in the process displayed his batting talents besides his athleticism behind the stumps.

Saha was named in the India A squad which played three limited overs match against the Israel Invitational XI, players made the side on the basis of his performances in the Indian Premier League. India A won the series 3-0, Saha scored an unbeaten 85 in the third match in which India chased 235.

International career

Test career

On 28 January 2010, Saha was included in the Indian Test squad as a reserve wicket-keeper in place of Dinesh Karthik for the upcoming home Test match series against South Africa. Although the squad was named for the first Test only, Saha's surprise inclusion raised a number of eyebrows.

As Saha was a reserve gloveman, he was not expected to play, but V. V. S. Laxman failed to recover from injury and Rohit Sharma, the only reserve specialist batsman in the squad, injured himself playing football in the warm-up on the first morning. As another batsman could not be flown in on time, Saha was given his Test debut against South Africa on 6 February 2010 at Nagpur due to unintended circumstances and had to play as a specialist batsman.

He scored a duck in the first innings but he scored a watchful 36 in the second innings. In both innings, fast bowler Dale Steyn took his wicket. India lost the Test and Saha was dropped from the squad for the second Test which India subsequently won to level the two-match series.

Saha played in the fourth match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in January 2012 in place of MS Dhoni ,who was banned for slow over rate, where he made an important 35 in the first which helped Virat Kohli get his maiden Test Century.

He also toured South Africa in December 2013, New Zealand in February 2014 and England in July 2014 as part of the test squad but did not get a game.

On 9 December 2014, he was selected to play his first test match since January 2012 against Australia at the same ground where he played his last match because MS Dhoni was out with a thumb injury. He made a useful 25 in the first inning and 13 runs in the second inning.^[1] He also played in the fourth match of the series and made 35 runs.

In 2016, he was selected for India's tour of West Indies as a wicket-keeper following Dhoni's retirement from test cricket.^[2] In the first test against West Indies, Saha became the third wicket-keeper in Indian cricket history to feature in six dismissals in a test innings.^[3]

ODI career

After he 115 runs in the 2014 IPL final he was called to tour Bangladesh as part of the 15 man Squad to 3 ODIs against Bangladesh Cricket Team. Saha however failed to impress with the bat but he took the most catches by any player in the series.

Indian Premier League

Saha played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three sessions on IPL but in 2011 he was picked by Chennai Super Kings as a reserve wicketkeeper for MS Dhoni. He also represented the Super Kings in 2012 and 2013

In 2014 IPL Auction Saha was purchased by Kings XI Punjab as a specialist wicketkeeper. In the tournament Saha not only took some good catches but also contributed with the bat. He made 362 runs at an average of 32.90 and a strike rate of 145.38.

In the IPL Final against Kolkata Knight Riders Saha became the first player to score a hundred in an IPL final when he made an unbeaten 115 runs from 55 balls, including 10 fours and 8 sixes.^[4]

International centuries

Test centuries

No.	Score	Match	Opponent	Venue	City	H/A/N	Year	Result
1	104	14	West Indies	Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium	St Lucia	Away	2016	Won

International awards

Test Man of the Match awards

No.	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	2nd Test – New Zealand in India Test Series	2016/17	1st innings: 54* (85 balls,7×4, 2×6); 2nd innings: 58* (120 balls,6×4); 1ct.	India won by 178 Runs.[5]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wriddhiman Saha.

• Wriddhiman Saha's profile page on Cricinfo
• Wriddhiman Saha's profile page on Wisden
• Wriddaman Saha at Cricket Archive