Rishabh Pant\u2019s ascendancy as India\u2019s premier Test wicketkeeper has not made Wriddhiman Saha \u201cinsecure\u201d even one bit as he doesn\u2019t believe that he is in competition with the Delhi glovesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saha, one of India\u2019s more technically accomplished keeper, has recently made a comeback for Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after being out of competitive cricket owing to shoulder surgery last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had the long lay-off and Pant\u2019s emergence made him insecure? \u201cNot at all. I was not insecure. Being a sportsman you always run the risk of getting injured. The aim was to be fully fit and return stronger,\u201d Saha, who scored 306 runs in 11 Mushtaq Ali Trophy games, said.Sceptics have cast doubts that Pant\u2019s batting ability could make an international comeback difficult for the Bengal stumper but Saha remains unfazed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was out with an injury. Rishabh grabbed his chance and scored runs on a consistent basis. Now my aim is to get back to form and try to make a comeback in the Indian line-up. That\u2019s purely my focus and I have stressed before and I want make it clear that there is no competition with Rishabh,\u201d said Saha, who has scored 1164 runs in 32 Tests with three hundreds and an average of 30.63.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has been a very safe batsman without being too flamboyant but he does understand that versatility is a must at the elite level.\u201cNowadays, it\u2019s all about being versatile. Keepers have to bat too,\u201d states Wriddhiman, who has scored a hundred and two half-centuries on his T20 comeback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the first few matches, I batted down the order. When I came on to the crease, there were a few overs left. So I had no time to settle and had to play big shots. Twice, I was run-out. I am satisfied with my performance but yes it can always be better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, his best performances have come whenever he has opened the innings. The normally introvert keeper said that he wouldn\u2019t mind opening the innings if the Sunrisers Hyderabad team management gives him that opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course, I would love to open in the IPL but the decision is totally up to the team management. I have returned after so many months. So this IPL has an added significance,\u201d said Saha, who has a century for Kings Xi Punjab in the 2014 IPL final against Kolkata Knight Riders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the IPL is over, the bigger battle will start as Saha in all likelihood will have to again fight for the second wicketkeeper\u2019s slot for the inaugural World Test Championship matches in the West Indies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rishabh Pant\u2019s ascendancy as India\u2019s premier Test wicketkeeper has not made Wriddhiman Saha \u201cinsecure\u201d even one bit as he doesn\u2019t believe that he is in competition with the Delhi glovesman. Saha, one of India\u2019s more technically accomplished keeper, has recently made a comeback for Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after being out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56985,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56983\/revisions\/56985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}