Wriddhiman Saha with a Gem From The Bat When it Seemed The Bat Had Gone Quiet!
Saha scored 81 off 43 balls against LSG [AP Photos]
Of all the definitive physical attributes that perhaps define a modern successful T20 cricketer today, Wriddhiman Saha has none.
A diminutive figure, he’s not even close to 1.80 meter in height.
He doesn’t boast of a gym goer’s physique.
Moreover, he is nowhere in possession of wrestler-like-wrists that a mere flick from those would send the ball over the ropes for easy sixes.
What Wriddhiman Saha does have, after all, is tremendous agility and the will to fight.
What separates Saha from others?
He’s one mighty heart. And at the end of the day, as a cricketer competing in famous leagues such as the Indian Premier League that draw huge scrutiny and judgemental mindsets, you need to compete with a lot of heart.
Truth be told, for someone who was actually drafted in as an batter who made his name for explosive hitting particularly towards death overs, Wriddhiman Saha has experienced drastically different fortunes where the contemporary era of the IPL is concerned.
No longer a lower order bat, the man identified for immense agility and neat glove-work, is today a top order bat.
But that doesn’t mean that he always got a chance to present what he had to offer as a batter since for the majority of the first three IPL season, he was on the sidelines.
But he didn’t quit. Call it a stroke of fortune or call it patches of brilliance that made their presence felt, Wriddhiman Saha is still keeping busy at a time where so many whom he played with or against, whether Gambhir, Yuvraj, Raina, the Pathan brothers are no longer IPL cricketers.
Age is just a number
Rather strikingly, at an age where he may just have slipped into oblivion like those early numbers one hears in a long live concert, Saha is still creating music from the bat.
He gave a fantastic example of just that against Lucknow just when it had begun to seem that Saha was sort of done with the bat in this edition of the Indian Premier League.
Surely, we will remember the pure magnificence of Shubman Gill, who with his unbeaten 94, a knock that came off just 51 deliveries.
But the man who provided early impetus to the Gujarat Titans’ innings, holding not just the fort from an end but attacking in tandem with a very gifted cricketer batting at the other, was Wriddhiman Saha.
Perhaps it may not be overstating facts that courtesy his strokeful 81, which came off just 7.1 overs out in the middle, Saha’s onslaught provided great entertainment for the Titans’ fans besides ensuring that the tremendous OTT viewership never dipped in numbers.
This being one of the last super Sundays of the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Four sixes, ten boundaries and a strike rate north of 188, it’s a shame that a fine talent, someone whose cricketing lifeline perhaps found an extension thanks to the famous IPL, couldn’t get to a hundred, which had it happened, would’ve been his second.
Though the true value of Saha’s brilliance can be measured by the fact that he helped earn his Gujarat side more useful points and yet another win. The table toppers continue to remain, as the tournament nears its decisive stage, the table toppers.
What’s more? The experienced Siliguri (lWest Bengal) -born cricketer seems to have finally found form at a crucial juncture of the tournament.
His impressive batting and should it continue in its current mould will only make an already dangerous batting order even more dangerous.
Lest it is forgotten that Gujarat Titans already have an exciting trinity of Pandya, Gill and David Miller in their ranks.
Finally, Saha with some useful runs under the belt is in there too!
 "Dev Tyagi")
