After returning from the long injuries, Wriddhiman Saha is focusing on the upcoming IPL season. The wicketkeeper-batsman has revealed that he likes to bat up the order and he wishes to get the same role in the new IPL season.
Before the frustrating injuries suddenly blocked his cricket career, Wriddhiman Saha was a regular Test player for India. Though he has mostly played as a lower-middle order batsman in Test career, he prefers to bat at the top-order.
After the IPL 2018, the wicketkeeper-batsman missed cricket for around nine months due to his shoulder injury. He underwent shoulder surgery and also faced a long rehabilitation period before making his comeback to the game.
Wriddhiman Saha was recently in excellent batting form as an opener
Wriddhiman Saha has returned to the game just recently, during the 2018/19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. After some initial struggle, he performed very well with the bat for his Bengal side. Once he was promoted as an opener, he played some remarkable innings.
The right-handed batsman hit one century and two half-centuries in that tournament. Coming to bat as an opener for the first time in that tournament, Wriddhiman Saha scored 129 runs off 62 balls against Arunachal Pradesh. Later, he also played the 52 and 53* runs match-winning innings against Odisha and Gujarat respectively.
He was the third most run-scorer for Bengal in that tournament. The 34-year-old right-handed batsman scored 306 runs in 11 innings with an average of 30.60.
Like the last year, Wriddhiman Saha will once again play for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the new IPL season. In IPL 2018, he failed to shine with the bat as he scored 122 runs in 11 matches with an average of 15.25.
After releasing him before the 2019 IPL Auctions, SRH once again bought him for INR 1.20 crore in the 2019 IPL Auctions.
Talking about his role for SRH in IPL 2019, Wriddhiman Saha told Mumbai Mirror, “Even at the club level, I prefer batting up the order. Last year, I did get opportunities to bat at the top but that was at the start of the IPL season. I didn’t get too many opportunities up the order in the middle of the tournament. We haven’t decided on our batting order yet. Maybe after a few practice sessions we’ll get a fair idea about our roles in the line-up and where we’ll bat.”
I never use any tournament as a springboard to play a higher grade of cricket
Since January 2018, Wriddhiman Saha hasn’t played any international cricket match. He missed out all the recent Test matches due to the injuries.
India will play their next Test match after the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, during their Caribbean tour in this July-August. However, the wicketkeeper-batsman is not eyeing the IPL 2019 as his return to Test cricket. He is currently focusing only for the new IPL season.
He said, “I never use any tournament as a springboard to play a higher grade of cricket. I give 100 per cent at any level of cricket — and if the selectors are convinced that my performances merit reward, then it’s their call, entirely their decision. There’s a long time to go for the West Indies series. I haven’t started my IPL yet, so we’ll see how it goes.”
IPL 2019 will begin on 23rd March. Meanwhile, the last year’s runners-up SRH will begin their new IPL journey on 24th March. On that day, they will meet against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens (Kolkata).