I Have Also Been A Victim Of Injustice - Syed Kirmani

Former Indian cricketer Syed Kirmani spoke about the injustice suffered by Indian wicket-keeper batter, Wriddhiman Saha, who was excluded from the Indian team ahead of the Sri Lanka Test series as the management was keen on trying younger players.

Kirmani also drew similarities to the events that transpired in his career to that of Saha’s. Back in the 1983 World Cup-winning campaign, Kirmani was awarded the “Best Wicket-keeper”. He went on to earn the moniker of ‘crisis man of Indian cricket’ as well. However, just two years later, he fell out of favor with the national team despite performing well at the domestic level.

“Saha has got tremendous competition around him with all the youngsters performing well in the IPL and other limited-overs matches. He’s obviously very sad, but every cricketer has to go through the ups and downs, right?”

“We don’t know what the selection committee and the team management think about the player. I have also been a victim of injustice, but nobody talks about it,” Kirmani told Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview.

Saha is undoubtedly one of India’s best glovemen at the moment. Unfortunately, age isn’t on his side but that shouldn’t have mattered considering how fit the 37-year-old Bengal wicketkeeper is.

“I rate this boy [Saha] very highly. In my opinion, he is currently India’s most technically sound wicketkeeper. But the selection committee, the team management, and others have something else on their minds. Unfortunately, he has very stiff competition,” Kirmani added.

“Just like me, Saha has been dropped from the Indian team when he’s at the peak of his career” – Syed Kirmani

Although Saha was mostly carried around as a backup wicketkeeping option to Rishabh Pant, he did get his chances. He proved his worth in those opportunities but it was not enough to warrant a place in the side, as per the Indian team management at least. In the end, the age factor played a huge role in his axing.

“This age factor has been there for a long time now. I was also a victim of this. They didn’t spare even Sachin Tendulkar, right? I believe that a player matures from the time he’s thirty years old; until then he’s in a learning process. Just like me, Saha has been dropped from the Indian team when he’s at the peak of his career,” Kirmani concluded.

Saha opted to skip the Ranji Trophy season for reasons unknown but he has confirmed that he has no intentions of retiring yet.

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