Despite his small stature, Wriddhiman Saha, hailing from the town of Siliguri, worked his way up through the U-19 and U-22 levels to earn a spot on his home state’s team in the Ranji Trophy. This opportunity arose due to several players leaving to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Saha replaced the experienced keeper Deep Dasgupta and made his debut in the 2007 season.
Personal Information
| Name | Wriddhiman Saha |
| Born | Oct 24, 1984 (38 years) |
| Birth Place | Shaktigarh |
| Height | 1.76 m |
| Role | WK-Batsman |
| Batting Style | Right-Handed Bat |
ICC Ranking
| Role | Test | ODI | T20 |
| Batting | – | – | – |
| Bowling | – | – | – |
Career Information
| Teams | Board Presidents XI, Kolkata Knight Riders, India, Chennai Super Kings, India Red, India A, Rest of India, Bengal, East Zone, Indians, Punjab Kings, Mohun Bagan, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, Tripura |
Batting Career Summary
| M | INN | NO | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 200 | 50 | 4s | 6s | |
| Test | 40 | 56 | 10 | 1353 | 117 | 29.41 | 2973 | 45.51 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 129 | 14 |
| ODI | 9 | 5 | 2 | 41 | 16 | 13.67 | 56 | 73.21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| IPL | 144 | 119 | 23 | 2427 | 115 | 25.28 | 1898 | 127.87 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 231 | 76 |
Bowling Career Summary
| M | INN | B | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Econ | Avg | SR | 5W | 10W | |
| Test | 40 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| ODI | 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| IPL | 144 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Career Information
| Test Debut | vs South Africa at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Feb 06, 2010 |
| Last test | vs New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium, Dec 03, 2021 |
| ODI debut | vs New Zealand at Nehru Stadium, Nov 28, 2010 |
| Last ODI | vs Sri Lanka at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Nov 09, 2014 |
| IPL debut | vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Apr 18, 2008 |
| Last IPL | vs Rajasthan Royals at Narendra Modi Stadium, May 29, 2022 |
Profile
Despite his small stature, Wriddhiman Saha, hailing from the town of Siliguri, worked his way up through the U-19 and U-22 levels to earn a spot on his home state’s team in the Ranji Trophy. This opportunity arose due to several players leaving to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Saha replaced the experienced keeper Deep Dasgupta and made his debut in the 2007 season.
Although he scored a century on his debut against Hyderabad, he failed to leave a lasting impression in the remaining matches. However, his performance caught the attention of scouts searching for players for the first-ever Indian Premier League. He was selected by the Kolkata Knight Riders and impressed spectators with his tidy wicket-keeping skills and powerful hitting during the final overs of the game.
Despite being on the sidelines during the Dhoni era, Wriddhiman Saha received a call-up to the national team in 2010 as a reserve wicket-keeper for the home series against South Africa. Surprisingly, he made his debut as a specialist batsman due to injuries to VVS Laxman and Rohit Sharma.
Although India suffered a heavy defeat on a seam-friendly pitch, Wriddhiman Saha impressed with a gritty knock of 36 off 101 balls in the second innings. As a result, he was appointed as the permanent reserve for Test matches and was included in the 16-member squad for the tour of Australia in 2011/12. Saha played another Test against Australia in Adelaide in the absence of Dhoni, where he showcased his skillful keeping and ability to adapt to bouncy conditions while playing within his limits.
He remained in the selectors’ radar on the domestic circuit by finishing as the leading run-scorer in the 2011-12 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Additionally, he has been given the responsibility of leading Bengal in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments on occasion, sharing the duties with Manoj Tiwary and Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Although Wriddhiman Saha’s performances at the domestic level were mediocre in the seasons that followed, he was selected as a reserve wicket-keeper in the Test squad for the tour to South Africa in December 2013. However, Wriddhiman Saha’s skills as a keeper improved after Dhoni’s retirement from Test cricket in December 2014. He impressed with his quick reflexes and acrobatic wicket-keeping skills, and has now become the regular keeper in Tests.
Experts and critics have praised his athleticism behind the stumps, especially against fast-bowlers, which has not been seen in an Indian keeper in living memory. Despite his limited batting abilities, Wriddhiman Saha has learned to play within his boundaries and has achieved success on that front. He has proven rather difficult to dismiss in most conditions, and has shown a stoic approach at the crease required in the most dire circumstances when the stroke-making stalwarts fail.
IPL through the years
Wriddhiman Saha was initially picked by his home franchise, the Kolkata Knight Riders, in the inaugural IPL auction. However, he remained on the sidelines for the majority of the three seasons he spent with the Knight Riders and was a second choice to MS Dhoni when he was picked by the Chennai Super Kings in the 2011 auction, once again for three seasons. In the 2014 auction, Wriddhiman Saha was finally signed by the Kings XI Punjab as a first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman. He impressed not only with his fantastic wicketkeeping skills but also with the bat, scoring 362 runs at 32.90 with a strike-rate of 145.28.
This included the first-ever hundred in an IPL final against the Kolkata Knight Riders (115* off 55) in the 2014 season, although his ex-franchise lifted its maiden trophy. Wriddhiman Saha was released by the Punjab franchise due to his unavailability to injuries and a complete overhaul of their own side. The keeping skills of Rahul and Pooran didn’t do him much good. He was then signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2019 IPL and is most likely to make the starting XI as their first-choice keeper and possibly Warner’s opening partner.
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