Wriddhiman Saha retires: An artist with gloves, a fighter with bat

The shy lad from Siliguri who erstwhile crammed into a azygous country with six men successful a derelict gathering successful Kolkata’s Koley Market to prosecute his cricketing imagination would diagnostic successful 40 Tests, the sixth highest for his state by a keeper, scored 3 centuries, the 3rd astir by an Indian wicketkeeper and had his sanction successful 104 dismissals. His limited-over vocation someway ne'er soared, contempt intermittent flourishes successful IPL. He erstwhile reeled disconnected an unbroken 115 disconnected 55 deliveries for Kings XI Punjab against a Kolkata Knight Riders bowling onslaught that constituted Morne Morkel, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav and Shakib Al Hasan successful an IPL last nary less.

Thank You, Cricket. Thank You everyone. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/eSKyGQht4R

— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 1, 2025

That helium remained under-utilised successful white-ball planetary cricket (just 13 ODIs), remains thing of a mystery. He erstwhile reflected to this newspaper: “I don’t cognize why. I person not thought profoundly astir it. All I person done is to marque the champion of my opportunities.”

Behind the mild-mannered demeanour was a pugnacious cricketer, who persisted with his dreams. He was nary quitter, adjacent if the breaks were few. For years, helium was the shadiness keeper to MS Dhoni. He was ever successful the squad, successful the nets, and connected the bench. After making an unexpected debut, erstwhile Rohit Sharma got injured playing shot connected the greeting of the game, against South Africa successful Nagpur, helium waited 2 years for his adjacent Test. Another 2 years would walk earlier his 3rd outing. It was not until Dhoni retired that helium became a imperishable fixture, a three-year model wherein helium was India’s undisputed first-choice wicket-keeper.

By past helium was 31, an property erstwhile carnal prowess of wicket-keepers statesman to deteriorate. But supremely acceptable and incredibly pugnacious of mind, helium regaled with his glove-work. He was a classicist and a throwback.

He trade was bereft of theatre, simply due to the fact that helium prioritised connected relation and conformed to orthodoxy. Like bully batsmen get an other 2nd to justice the ball’s length, Saha had the allowance of an other half-a-second to justice the ball’s length, its flight, routes and reroutes via edges.

Like high-class centre-backs don’t lunge into tackles, helium needn’t dive to pouch a drawback little talented catchers are necessitated to. Because his judgement was precise, his footwork was definite. Browse his files and you would beryllium amazed to find not excessively galore one-handed plucks. Or the gravity defying ones. He made cricket’s astir taxing preoccupation look lubriciously simple, to specified an grade that helium stripped immoderate of its glamour. His movements were similar a whisper, the stealth of the feet designed by hours navigating done the crammed streets of Central Kolkata. The lone clip helium ever made immoderate sound was precocious connected the X, erstwhile helium flagged a journalist’s “threat tweets”.

A peculiar and affectional farewell 🫂

Guard of honour and felicitation for Bengal wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha who is playing his last First-class lucifer 👏👏#RanjiTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @Wriddhipops

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/GAuG6Mqk8H pic.twitter.com/DGCJRh4QWT

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 31, 2025

But ticker immoderate of his catches sharply and you would observe its artfulness. The method was copybook. When diving for the ball, it’s the caput that led him, not the arms. Then followed his arms and the feet. The palms were astir parallel to the way of the ball. It was an orchestra of bones and muscles, the halfway conditioned by hours helium spent connected fields successful Siliguri. Even erstwhile helium flung air-borne, helium was successful optimal power of his assemblage successful that helium knew the nonstop grade of his stretch. He knew precisely erstwhile the shot would nestle successful his gloves. He ne'er groped, alternatively the balls look similar they are being magnetically pulled into his clutches. He swooped connected it alternatively than picked it up.

Contrastingly, the batting was each grit and granite. He took blows connected his body, intermittently counter-punched, drove and chopped seamers, slogged and swept the spinners. The antiaircraft method was robust, and near the balls extracurricular the off-stumps much adeptly than immoderate of the top-order batsmen. His hundreds successful St Lucia connected a green-top and Ranchi connected a slow-turner were important hands successful averting defeats. But his batting, cruelly, went under-appreciated successful the shadows of his predecessor Dhoni and successor Rishabh Pant.

That’s the larger thread of his vocation excessively — 1 crunched successful shadows, successful the aura of Dhoni and the effervescence of Pant. History would cruelly retrieve him arsenic the span betwixt the Dhoni and Pant eras. It’s a condescending epitaph to retrieve the vocation of 1 of the finest to person donned the wicket-keeping gloves for his country. But that was quintessential Saha — unsung, unassuming and understated, and quiescent similar his last time successful cricket.