In early 2022, Wriddhiman Saha was despondent and desolate. Unceremoniously dumped from the Indian Test squad ahead of the two-match series at home to Sri Lanka, the wicketkeeper-batter also had his commitment questioned by an official back home at the Cricket Association of Bengal after he pulled out of the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy citing personal reasons.
The axe from the National team was the first time since M.S. Dhoni passed on his wicketkeeping gloves that Saha wasn’t part of the Indian roster. Saha hasn’t played a Test since then, with K.S. Bharat and now Ishan Kishan leap-frogging him in the race to be the second-choice after Rishabh Pant. The tiff with Bengal wasn’t resolved and that led to him severing ties with a state for whom he had played all career, including 52 times in the Ranji Trophy.
For most players in the wrong side of 30s as Saha was, such unsavoury happenings would have spelt the end of their careers and marked a quiet retreat into the commentator’s box or a coaching role in one of many franchise cricket leagues that have mushroomed around the world.
