Many, from the opinion-hungry armchair critics of cricket to experts who have played the game at the highest level, seem to have been stumped by the news — which by the way is unconfirmed — that Wriddhiman Saha’s future in the Indian Test team has slipped into uncertainty.
Thousands of miles away, in England, the careers of James Anderson and Stuart Broad — both of whom are on the wrong side of 35 like Saha — in international cricket have been pushed into a similar zone with the ECB dropping the aged pacers from the squad for the Test series in the West Indies.
Though Saha knows best for himself, one cannot help but think that the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman should take inspiration from the case of Anderson and Broad before he chalks out his future plan.
The ECB, or rather its interim director Andrew Strauss, has made it clear that the master pacers have been axed to give opportunities to new bowlers and thereby create a broader pool of players. Not just that, Strauss, who himself informed the pair of their omissions during “very hard” phone calls, said both would play county cricket at the start of the season and try to win their Test places back.
While the BCCI will do well to infuse similar clarity in its dealing with player matters, there’s a bigger lesson perhaps for Saha.
The 37-year-old stumper hasn’t spoken much about all the speculation around him. He has decided to skip the Ranji Trophy this season for “personal reasons” and he has every right to do so. It will be unfair to judge him on
that. But if he believes he has some more years of cricket left in him, it will perhaps be wise for him to do it like Anderson and Broad have been asked to do by the ECB. Go back to domestic cricket, prove your worth and force the selectors and the team management to sit up and take notice.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), whom Saha represents in the domestic circuit, would also have preferred that rather than miss one of their most experienced players. Officially, the CAB has assured its full support to Saha in whatever decision he takes. But some in the association believe that if Saha could, he should have played in the Ranji Trophy this season. After all, it is on the field of action where all nay-sayers can be answered the best.
The same holds true for the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Chesteshwar Pujara as well. The duo, who too are struggling to hold on to their places in the Test team, are, however, playing in the upcoming edition of the Ranji Trophy.
Of course all these talk would matter little if Saha decides to retire from international cricket altogether. One would hope that he doesn’t. He is still the best glovesman in the country, most probably in world cricket too, and if his bat produces the runs that the team expects from him, it would be very difficult to overlook him.
For the time being, Saha will only have the IPL to make a point for himself, provided he lands a team in the upcoming auction. Coming back to Anderson and Broad, Strauss, while clarifying that it was not necessarily the end of the road for the senior pair, had a very important message for them. “Their job right at the moment is to get themselves fired up and ready to go at the start of the international summer in June.”
That’s an advice that Saha too can take. Pad up and fight.
(Written with inputs from The Times, London, and agencies)
