Wriddhiman Saha: India's man for keeps

Wriddhiman Saha stands out in an era when wicketkeepers sledge merely to adhere to their job profile. “I haven't seen MS Dhoni sledge ever. He only talks positively. So it is not compulsory that you have to sledge. You can twist things and say things like the pitch is poor, or you have played a poor shot. That's fine,” he says.
Apart from learning this unique, almost unwicketkeeper-like quality from Dhoni, Saha seems to have learnt a few lessons in gentlemanly behaviour from his childhood hero, Australian Adam Gilchrist, who was famous for `walking' before he was adjudged out by the umpire.
“I liked his batting and keeping style. I think of him as an ideal 'keeper,” Saha says.
The way he kept wickets in the second Test against Sri Lanka on a dry, turning track at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) last week, though, would've made both Dhoni and Gilchrist proud. After scoring 67, Saha appeared to be India's superman behind the stumps, particularly in Lanka's second innings when he took two brilliant catches, effected a stumping and got his hands on every ball from Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja that turned and bounced menacingly. If you wanted to see a 'keeping masterclass on a turner, this was it.
“I enjoy 'keeping to Ashwin and Jadeja on such wickets. On the kind of pitches, a lot of balls come to the 'keeper, otherwise we only get 10-12 balls all day coming to us. If you get more balls coming to you, then you are always more focused,” says the gloveman, before adding: “Yes, we work and prepare differently with R Sridhar (fielding coach) for such pitches. This one was more dry, and had more bounce, so I tried to get up a bit more. I was doing a drill for that.”
So sensational was Saha with the gloves here that his captain feels he's currently the best wicketkeeper in the world. “Four byes on that sort of pitch speaks of his (Saha's) quality. He is definitely the best 'keeper in this format. How agile he is. He is very safe behind the stumps,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation after India clinched the second Test and the series. The four byes the India skipper referred to was a quickish delivery from Ashwin down leg which even a leg slip would've struggled to stop.
It was a performance which left team India coach Ravi Shastri in awe too. Saha is not the one who'll gloat over the compliments. “If the coach and captain are saying this, then it's a big morale boost, because keeping wickets isn't an easy job. Actually, I haven't thought about it that I want to be the best in the world. I'm trying to deliver whatever I've learnt since childhood,” Saha says.
The high point of his brilliant effort at SSC was the terrific catch which saw him launch into a full-fledged down-the-leg side dive to scoop the ball in his gloves, sending back the dangerous Kusal Mendis. However, it doesn't figure anywhere in his list of top three catches.
“I've held better catches in domestic cricket, but they haven't been telecast, so you haven't seen them”, he quips, before putting out his list: “Steve O' Keefe in Pune, AB de Villiers in Bangalore, and Mathew Wade in Bangalore.”
Check Youtube, and you'll find why the best 'keeper on the planet rates then as his best.
Interestingly, both Saha's father (Prashant) and father-in-law (Ratindra Kumar Mitra) were goalkeepers at the club level. While the senior Saha was a wicketkeeper too, his father-in-law played for Mohammadan Sporting in Kolkata. Saha's quicksilver reflexes originate from the fact that his father used to take him to Agragami football club when he was growing up in in Siliguri. It was at this club that Saha began learning the art of wicketkeeping from his childhood coach, Jayant Bhowmick.
After one stage, though, Saha had to leave Siliguri for better cricketing opportunities to Kolkata. Hailing from a middle-class background, he faced a hard time initially. “It was tough. When you come from outside the city it is tough, because you have to work out accommodation, playing for a good club and how to get a good opportunity. After that, it comes down to performance. My aim was to keep performing consistently,” he says.
During the course of this Test, Saha crossed 50 dismissals in Test cricket. Incidentally, the third Test in Pallekele will be his 100th first-class game. “I just found out that this will by my 100th FC match. Its milestone, but I'll try to play as long as possible,” he says.