The veteran Indian wicket-keeper batter, Wriddhiman Saha, has come out and revealed his conversations with the BCCI, team management, and Indian selection committee after him being ignored from the Test squad ahead of the Sri Lanka series. It is noteworthy that Chetan Sharma, the Chairman of the National Selection Committee, on Saturday, announced India’s Test and T20I squad for the series against Sri Lanka.
Some very notable exclusions from the Test team were that of Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wirddhiman Saha, and Ishant Sharma. Chetan Sharma mentioned that all the four cricketers had the prior information of being dropped from the squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka and that he had personally requested all four of them to participate in the Ranji Trophy.
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Chetan Sharma stressed the fact that the selection committee will be selecting the Test team on the basis of the performance in the Indian domestic circuit. It is worth remembering that Wirddhiman Saha opted out of the Ranji Trophy 2022 citing personal reasons at the last moment. Some of the reports suggested that Saha has taken the decision to show that he is not convinced with the reason behind him being axed from the Test squad.
On Saturday too, when Chetan Sharma was asked in the press conference the reasoning behind Saha’s axing, he said, “I can’t tell you on what grounds he (Saha) has been dropped. It is for the selectors. All I can tell you is that he was told before.”
In a recent interview with the Times of India, Wriddhiman Saha said, What Chetan Sharma said at the press conference today was totally different from what we had conversed. He had called me and asked if I was playing the Ranji Trophy. That was the first week of February and I told him that the Ranji Trophy was still some time away. He said, ‘OK’. Then, he told me that he wanted to convey something, that the selection committee was planning to try a new face, thinking long-term.”
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He further added, “That I wasn’t playing and was in the team as a second wicketkeeper and the selection committee wanted to try a newcomer and groom him. He told me I wouldn’t be on the team for the Sri Lanka series. I asked him (Sharma) if I would be considered for the team’s next Test assignments, in Englaand and beyond? He paused for a second or two before telling me that from now on I wouldn’t be considered. Then he said, if someone was picked, he couldn’t be dropped straight away.”
Wridhman Saha concluded, “You should play the Ranji Trophy but the decision is yours. I asked him if my performance and age were the factors, to which answered in the negative. Even coach Rahul Dravid suggested that I think about taking retirement.”
Recalling the day when scored a half-century against New Zealand, Wriddhiman Saha said, “When I hit an unbeaten 61 taking a painkiller in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur last November, Dadi (as Sourav Ganguly was referred to by Bengal players) even mentioned that I should not worry about anything as long as he is at the helm of the BCCI. Such a message from the board President really boosted my confidence. But I failed to understand why everything changed so fast.”
