Wicketkeeping Is A Specialist Job And Should Remain So: Wriddhiman Saha

It is fair to say that Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist revolutionized the role of a wicketkeeper-batsman courtesy of his outrageous talent. The former World Cup winner made the world realize that a wicketkeeper can be an equally brilliant batsman and since then the criteria of selecting a stumper has changed considerably. In the modern era, teams are increasingly preferring cricketers who are better batsmen despite not being best behind the stumps.

Indian Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha does not believe in this theory as he feels that keeping is a specialist job and a cricketer with better credentials behind the stumps should be preferred over someone who is a better batsman but an average keeper.

Saha feels that a dropped chance behind the stumps can change the game substantially and specialists should always be preferred in Test match cricket.

”There are situations when a missed chance can change the result of a match. Wicketkeeping is a specialist job, especially in Test cricket. I am not claiming to hold on to every catch that comes my way, but this is a specialist position and should remain so,” Wriddhiman Saha told TOI.

Indian cricket has been in a conundrum of choosing between a better keeper in Saha or a better batsman in Rishabh Pant in the past 2 years. Every time Wriddhiman Saha plays, his batting draws comparison with Rishabh Pant and vice-versa for Pant, whose keeping is always scrutiny every time he is preferred over Saha.

But Wriddhiman Saha is unfazed by the comparisons and all he is focussed is doing what he can to the best of his ability.

“I have been hearing these comparisons since 2018. I believe in doing my job and I am not worried about how Pant is batting. I don’t want to change my game because of that. It’s up to the team management to decide who will stand behind the stumps,” Saha said.

The Indian wicketkeeper also went on to lament on his selection of shot in the first innings of the Adelaide Test where he chased a Mitchell Starc delivery that was way outside the off-stump.

“It was way outside off and I made a wrong choice, but in the second innings the flick though the midwicket is something I always play. It was unfortunate that it found the fielder. That was just a bad day for us,” he added.

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