It is not often that you get to watch an Indian wicket-keeper pull off a flying mid-air catch. But in the 81st over of the first Test between India and Australia, Wriddhiman Saha stuck out his one hand to pull off a sensational catch to dismiss Steve O’keefe of the bowling of Umesh Yadav.
For someone who has always remained in the shadows of his fellow superstars, Wriddhiman Saha’s catch against Australia was the perfect answer to silence those who questioned his ability with the gloves. He did receive some flak for his performance in the England series.
The pressure, however, was always on Saha since the day he took over the mantle from MS Dhoni in the longer format of the game. But on Thursday he pulled off something that can be termed as the catch of the season.
However, despite his achievements there were doubts expressed regarding his position in the side, especially after Parthiv Patel took his place in the India team in the England series and made a good case for himself scoring 195 runs in four innings at an average of 65.00. He had also notched up two half-centuries in that period. However, Saha has worked hard on his fitness at National Cricket Academy (NCA), improved his overall game and is now again back into the forefront.
Saha is the best wicketkeeper in the country right now and he’s doing a great job in Test cricket. His wonderful glove-work behind the stumps along with a recent century has just added more prowess to his skills.
With some gap between him and the fielder at second slip, there was some gap and without Saha’s heroics, the ball would have quite easily gone off to third man for a boundary. But then again, that would be the case without Saha.
The crowd absolutely loved his feat. The Australian spinner, O’keefe was seen leaving the ground furious, but not much he could have done about that.
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