Second-time lucky

A few yards to Simonss right,Wriddhiman Saha stood unmoved,padded up,waiting his turn to bat. Idle onlookers might have speculated that Saha was the intended target of Rohits drive.

In February 2010,a most fortuitous set of circumstances had conspired to hand Saha a Test debut against South Africa at Nagpur. The selectors had picked only six specialist batsmen in the squad. With illness leaving VVS Laxman a doubtful starter,Rohit,who had just played for the Board Presidents XI against the tourists at the same venue,was asked to join the squad.

On the morning of the match,Laxman pulled out. Rohit injured himself during a warm-up game of football. Saha,the reserve wicketkeeper,was drafted in as a specialist batsman.

Destinys child

Nearly two years later,Rohit is yet to make his Test debut. Saha,meanwhile,is on the verge of playing his second Test,with MS Dhoni banned for Indias slow over rate at Perth. Rohits chances of playing at Adelaide look decidedly slim,unless one of the middle-order batsmen injures himself. Or in the highly unlikely event of the team management deciding to play seven batsmen and asking Rahul Dravid to keep wickets.

Inwardly,Rohit might just be a bubbling volcano of existential angst. After all,he will most likely end the series unused,despite the fact that precious few of the batsmen have made a significant contribution.

The flipside of this,of course,is how much Rohits reputation,as a batsman of undoubted class,has grown without him facing a single ball. Its the opposite for Saha,whose status as reserve keeper has always been under question despite the fact that hes had next to no opportunity to prove his credentials.

Adelaide will be his first Test with the big gloves. With the smaller gloves,in the nets,Saha looked neat and organised with his footwork,skittering back and across and getting behind the line nicely against the pace bowlers and either rocking back deep or skipping nimbly out of his crease to the spinners. But he struggled to time any of his attacking strokes.

Judging by that brief interlude,Saha might prove a stickier customer than Dhoni for the Australian seam attack to dislodge,but they might not need a whole lot of fielders in front of the wicket. His domestic numbers this season have been impressive,with 234 runs for Bengal at an average of 117.00,including an unbeaten 167 against Gujarat.

Best pure keeper

Of his keeping,little can be said at this point. By default,hes considered Indias best pure keeper. Dhoni is brilliant standing up to the spinners,but less sure standing back,troubled by late movement and reluctant to dive across for catches that might not carry to first slip. Parthivs glovework has always been suspect,and Dinesh Karthiks has fallen away over the last three or four years.

We are yet to discover Sahas strengths and weaknesses. He looked competent enough when Duncan Fletcher gave him and the slips cordon catching practice,but it wasnt even close to simulating a match situation.

But the Adelaide Oval is as good a place as any for Saha to make his wicketkeeping debut. Its usually great for batting,with little to no sideways movement. The bounce might not be as steep as Perth or even Melbourne. On the fourth and fifth days,according to curator Damien Hough,a bit of uneven bounce might come into play. On this tour,in short,its the closest hell get to a subcontinental pitch.