India vs Bangladesh 2017, One-Off Test: Irani Trophy Innings Lifted My Confidence, Says Wriddhiman Saha
Feb 10, 2017 at 6:40 PM
It was the track record of Wriddhiman Saha and his recent form that worked in his favour and forced skipper Virat Kohli to select him ahead of Parthiv Patel, who replaced the Bengal player in the Test series against England.
Parthiv Patel, Gujarat’s captain, was unfortunate to miss out the bus. Pressure was on Saha, the double-centurion of the Irani Cup, to prove his selection right as if he would have failed, he could have been the one to face the axe. But he continued his great form and went on to score a century, thanks to the missed stumping opportunity by Bangladesh skipper and wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim.
The visitors’ loss was India’s gain as Saha performed brilliantly. He went on to play an innings of 106*, steering the team’s total before skipper Virat Kohli decided to declare the Indian innings on a score of 687.
The middle-order batsman was quite amazed to continue his form of Irani Cup and seemed happy to make the most of the missed opportunity by Bangladesh team as he said,
“My confidence is high after the Irani trophy. My coach and captain asked me to keep playing my natural game. I was also lucky enough to get a chance first up after the keeper (Mushfiqur) missed out on the chance. In the Irani final, Pujara was batting at the other end and there was no scope of him getting out there. I tried to play positive because they were bowling fuller lengths and it worked out well. When I came out to bat there was no thought of the declaration and in the last half an hour when we got the message Jaddu and me went after it. I honestly did not hear the nick on the catch that I took. I was in a good position to take the catch and that is the reason I was able to take it well. I think if we just carry on tomorrow the way we did today and bowl in tight lines, we should be able to restrict them to a low score.”