It’s Unfortunate That Wriddhiman Saha Is Dropped After Just One Test Match - Gautam Gambhir Lashes Out At The Team Management

After the Indian team announced the eleven which is going to take the field against Australia in the second Test match in Melbourne, Gautam Gambhir fumed over the decision to drop wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha after just one match.

A wholesale of changes was expected in the Indian line-up after the Adelaide fiasco. Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami are forced changes, as the skipper is not available and the pacer is ruled out from the rest of the series owing to a fractured arm. Ravindra Jadeja replaces Kohli, and Mohammed Siraj will make his debut as he comes in for Shami.

India has made a couple of more changes. The right-handed opener, Prithvi Shaw is dropped after his continuous failures and is replaced by Shubman Gill, who will make his Test debut. Another much-debated decision was to drop Wriddhiman Saha as the wicket-keeper and bring in Rishabh Pant.

No one is secured in this Indian team: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir is totally unimpressed with the team management for dropping Saha from the eleven after just one Test match. Pant, who made a hundred in the practice match was overlooked for the Adelaide Test, where Saha scored 9 and 4. Gambhir questions that will the management drop Pant if he doesn’t perform well in the second and third Test.

The former batsman believes that the insecurity amongst the players for their place in the eleven is the reason the team has looked unsettled for the past few years.

“It’s unfortunate that Wriddhiman Saha has played just one Test match in this series and he hasn’t done well and gets dropped. Imagine what happens to Pant if he doesn’t do well in this Test or the third Test. What do you do then? Would you go back to Wriddhiman Saha? That’s why this team looks so unsettled because no one is secured. Professional sport is all about security,” Gambhir told Sports Today.

The former KKR skipper feels that is unfair on both the wicket-keepers to pick and drop them based on conditions. The management and the selectors have earlier hinted that Pant will play overseas while Saha will keep wickets in Indian conditions because the latter is a better gloveman than Pant.

However, despite the Dehli Capitals keeper scoring a hundred on his previous tour down under, then playing in New Zealand and smashing a century in the warm-up game, he wasn’t picked in the first Test. And now Saha is omitted after one bad game- most of the batters also had a disappointing outing.

“Actually, it’s been unfair on Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha both over a long period of time when they have picked and chosen players on conditions. You don’t do that with wicketkeepers. You do that with bowlers,” Gautam Gambhir added.

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