Wriddhiman Saha leaves Cricket

Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha has announced that he is retiring after the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season. The Bengal stalwart is calling time on his glorious career after two decades, as he took to his social media handle to make this announcement on November 3.

Announcing his retirement from the game, Saha posted on X: “After a cherished journey in cricket, this season will be my last. I’m honored to represent Bengal one final time, playing only in the Ranji Trophy before I retire. Let’s make this season one to remember!”

Here's a retirement post shared by Wriddhiman Saha on social media:

After a cherished journey in cricket, this season will be my last. I’m honored to represent Bengal one final time, playing only in the Ranji Trophy before I retire. Let’s make this season one to remember! pic.twitter.com/sGElgZuqfP

— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) November 3, 2024

For his great ability behind the stumps and his determination with the bat, Wriddhiman Saha has made an impact as a wicketkeeper-batter for both India and Bengal, along with Tripura.

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Saha made his India Test debut in 2010 against South Africa and went on to become the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter to then-captain MS Dhoni in Test cricket itself.

He emerged as one of the most prominent and important contributors to the Indian Test team after Dhoni retired from red-ball cricket in 2014. The veteran wicketkeeper made 1,353 runs in his 40-inning Test career, including three centuries and six half-centuries.

A look back at Wriddhiman Saha's IPL journey

However, the Bengal star didn’t get many chances in ODI cricket, representing India in only nine ODI matches. But with the kind of difference he made to the longer format, the 40-year-old made a name for himself as one of India’s finest wicketkeepers ever.

Beyond international cricket, Wriddhiman Saha's IPL journey has been equally storied. He is only one of the few players to feature in every season of the IPL since its inception, and during his journey, he earned a reputation as a reliable top-order batter.

Saha's biggest highlight has been a knock of 115 in the 2014 IPL Final for Punjab Kings (then known as Kings XI Punjab). However, they lost the final battle to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), thanks to Manish Pandey’s 94-run knock. In the last edition of IPL, Saha represented Gujarat Titans (GT).

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Apart from Gujarat Titans (GT), Saha has represented various franchises in the IPL, including Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The right-handed batter has 2934 runs from 170 games to his name in the IPL.

Saha's domestic numbers are equally impressive

Even his domestic cricket career has been an adventure. He played for Bengal for the major part of his career, but there was a time when he parted ways due to a fallout with a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) official and shifted to play for Tripura as a mentor-cum-player.

And just when it seemed all but over for Saha, he decided to return to the home state to play the last season. Notably, the wicketkeeper-batter has over 7000 runs in 138 first-class matches so far and amassed over 3000 List-A runs and over 4600 runs in T20 cricket.