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[cricinfo]

Stroke of luck for Saha
- Instead of Rohit Sharma, Bengal ’keeper makes debut

Calcutta: Where ironies go, it can’t get bigger than this: Set for his Test debut, Rohit Sharma collided with Wriddhiman Saha and it’s the 25-year-old from Bengal who got his maiden cap!

One can’t recall a ‘cover’, too, being rendered hors de combat in the hour before a Test, but Saha surely isn’t complaining.

Not that you can hold it against him.

Clearly, a most bizarre situation confronted Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Jamtha, on Saturday morning, when both V.V.S. Laxman and his ‘cover’, Rohit, became unavailable for Test No.1 against South Africa.

With no specialist batsman in the reserves, Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten had no choice but to include Saha, the second wicket-keeper, in the XI.

Saha’s debut, incidentally, came at the same venue where Sourav Ganguly had played his final Test, 15 months ago.

It’s Kirsten who gave Saha the greatest news of his life, “around five minutes” before the toss.

“Rohit collided with me, during the warm-up session, and he’d looked bad... I was throwing some balls to (Amit) Mishra when Gary came up to me and said that I would be playing... Dhoni spoke to me after the toss... Everything happened so fast,” Saha told The Telegraph, when contacted on returning to the Pride Hotel in Nagpur.

Who presented him the India cap?

“Sachin Tendulkar... At that moment, it definitely felt great... Till then, I’d been quite normal... Sachin also gave the cap to the other debutant, (Subramaniam) Badrinath... Having got this chance, I’m looking to contribute to the team’s effort... Team jate bhalo korte pare...

“Today, I’m thankful to so many for their encouragement over the years... My parents (Prasanta, Maitrayee) and dada (Anirban)... My coach for long, Jayanta Bhowmick... It’s a long list,” Saha responded.

Actually, not that Dhoni has anything against Saha, but his worst fears came true at much the wrong time.

For, it was on the eve of the Test, that he’d told a well-wisher: “Please talk of anything, but injuries ki baat nahin karen...”

The Krishnamachari Srikkanth-headed selection committee needs to hold a review. Most important, it shouldn’t pick anybody who hasn’t ‘proved’ that he’s match-fit.

Laxman wasn’t anywhere close to that when the selectors chose the XV, on January 2-8. Well, it wasn’t very many years ago that even somebody of Sourav’s standing had to ‘prove’ his fitness.

He did so with a hundred in the Duleep Trophy.

Speaking exclusively from Nagpur, Srikkanth said: “We were faced with such a strange situation... What happened was very unfortunate and Rohit’s injury has only confirmed that anything may occur... We’ll now have to look at a logical way of avoiding a repeat...”

Srikkanth didn’t commit himself on whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India would be requested by his committee to sanction the selection of XVI players for a home series as well.

That’s a possibility, though.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100207/jsp/sports/story_12075658.jsp

[CLR James]

Oh hell. Jayanta Bhowmick (Bhai-da) from Agragami Club was briefly my coach too in Siliguri. He said that I had promise. Then I shifted to soccer. He said I had promise in soccer.

[cricinfo]

Oh hell. Jayanta Bhowmick (Bhai-da) from Agragami Club was briefly my coach too in Siliguri. He said that I had promise. Then I shifted to soccer. He said I had promise in soccer.

Then what happened to soccer ? Did you let him down ?

[dextrous]

It is a shame that Saha is playing as a specialist batsman. Laxman, etc. should no have been selected in the first place.

[Cover Point]

Mr Cricinfo. You dont give me enough credit. Typical bottom feeding Gangulians.

CP mode would have the following Headline

"beep Bengali Saha kicked Rohit Sharma to ensure selfish Debut. Plan concocted by Ganguly"


there. Happy

[CLR James]

Mr Cricinfo. You dont give me enough credit. Typical bottom feeding Gangulians.

CP mode would have the following Headline

"beep Bengali Saha kicked Rohit Sharma to ensure selfish Debut. Plan concocted by Ganguly"


there. Happy

Ganguly to receive kickbacks from Saha's first match fees and endorsement deal.

[LosingNow]

Most important, it shouldn’t pick anybody who hasn’t ‘proved’ that he’s match-fit.

EGGJACKTLY..

[dhruvdeepak]

as they say , this is a bull shit

raina, kohli, pandey, pujara and kkd all deserve a slot ahead of saha

[kban1]

Obviously KKD doesnt according to our selectors since Saha is replacing KKD in the squad.

But thank our great selectors for their decision making  --Saha makes debut as batsman ahead of the specialist bats.

Jokers!

[Blwe_torch]

Oh hell. Jayanta Bhowmick (Bhai-da) from Agragami Club was briefly my coach too in Siliguri. He said that I had promise. Then I shifted to soccer. He said I had promise in soccer.

Why past tense....you still have promise alright..........the way you juggle with the words and phrases, is quite promising indeed.
I am sure, soccer and cricket will be mere spectators in your real game. 

[Cover Point]

Obviously KKD doesnt according to our selectors since Saha is replacing KKD in the squad.

But thank our great selectors for their decision making  --Saha makes debut as batsman ahead of the specialist bats.

Jokers!

this actually is bad even for saha. Its unfair for him to be judged based on this game .... and judged as a specialist bat. Way  to ruin a career.

[feverpitch]

Obviously KKD doesnt according to our selectors since Saha is replacing KKD in the squad.

But thank our great selectors for their decision making  --Saha makes debut as batsman ahead of the specialist bats.

Jokers!

this actually is bad even for saha. Its unfair for him to be judged based on this game .... and judged as a specialist bat. Way  to ruin a career.

maybe that's the game...

[Cover Point]

Obviously KKD doesnt according to our selectors since Saha is replacing KKD in the squad.

But thank our great selectors for their decision making  --Saha makes debut as batsman ahead of the specialist bats.

Jokers!

this actually is bad even for saha. Its unfair for him to be judged based on this game .... and judged as a specialist bat. Way  to ruin a career.

maybe that's the game...

yup blame this on the western union too. It is the good old ... NEVER something that the commies did.

In this case the blame lies squarely on the bengalis for pushing Saha way too early and trying to leapfrog a KaKaDi who really has not done badly. I hope they are ashamed of themselves

[Blwe_torch]

Tell me how are the Bengalis to blame here?
Who is the influential Bengali pushing Saha's cause?
Why do you talk like some parochial guy ?

[gouravk]

15 months ago one famous son of bengal played his final innings on this ground ... tomorrow another might be doing the same .... 

[Cover Point]

Tell me how are the Bengalis to blame here?
Who is the influential Bengali pushing Saha's cause?
Why do you talk like some parochial guy ?

its you are your kind in the east block ... who were pushing Saha.

[WicketView]

15 months ago one famous son of bengal played his final innings on this ground ... tomorrow another might be doing the same .... 

The thought that a new player will be discarded after a single test failure in batting, even if he was only a specialist batsman
is strange. But lets not even get into that.

About the bolded part ... Really?

[Cover Point]

15 months ago one famous son of bengal played his final innings on this ground ... tomorrow another might be doing the same .... 

The thought that a new player will be discarded after a single test failure in batting, even if he was only a specialist batsman
is strange. But lets not even get into that.

About the bolded part ... Really?

what do you disagree with? Ganguly being famous or Saha being a son of Bengal?

and trust me the Bengalis have taken care of Saha's career. Barring a miracle second innings by him ... his career is history

[gouravk]

15 months ago one famous son of bengal played his final innings on this ground ... tomorrow another might be doing the same .... 

The thought that a new player will be discarded after a single test failure in batting, even if he was only a specialist batsman
is strange. But lets not even get into that.

About the bolded part ... Really?

haha .. it was supposed to be a joke .. really ...

[WicketView]

OK ... this forum is often like the onion. So, sometimes jokes are hard to tell.

[WicketView]

what do you disagree with? Ganguly being famous or Saha being a son of Bengal?

Good one!

and trust me the Bengalis have taken care of Saha's career. Barring a miracle second innings by him ... his career is history

That might well be ... selection has often been a strange game. But would not such a selection policy be terribly unfortunate?

[Blwe_torch]

I have a feeling, Saha will be back in business..........either in this Test itself...or, may be later. He is a very talented guy. It will be sad if such a talent goes waste.
India cannot afford this.

[RicePlateReddy]

I have a feeling, Saha will be back in business..........either in this Test itself...or, may be later. He is a very talented guy. It will be sad if such a talent goes waste.
India cannot afford this.

If he is truly, truly talented, he will eventually make it. As inconsistent and bizarre as the Indian selection committee is, the top of the heap talent and promise cannot be forced out forever. Laxman's forcing his way into the team and demanding a middle order spot when he couldn't cut it as opener was testament to that. (And I haven' forgotten Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel - very unlucky, but they have themselves to blame too).

[WicketView]

Check the other thread about unlucky cricketers. One can ask whether they were "truly truly talented" ie. Bradman level ? Tendulkar level?

Laxman definitely did it, but he may have had a slice of fortune that allowed his talent to express itself. Among other things was he not helped to some extent by Azhar, Jadeja and even Mongia leaving due to the match fixing scandal? Badri has been having a rather hard time getting a call up (though watching him bat yesterday did not necessarily make me feel that he is "truly truly talented" but may be still a very good cricketer.

I do feel that things have changed. One big example is Gambhir. No one will try to throw him out now on allegations of classlessness etc. for a while, even though his initial stint was pretty bad, with flaws in his batting that he subsequently ironed out. Incidentally, I read the cricinfo article about the bleak future of the Indian batting based on Vijay, Badri and Saha's batting. I was left wondering if the author remembered that the No 1. test batsman today (who also failed) did not start his test career with a bundle of glory, or that one of the two men in the SAF side responsible for their imposing total had a less than modest beginning.

[RicePlateReddy]

Check the other thread about unlucky cricketers. One can ask whether they were "truly truly talented" ie. Bradman level ? Tendulkar level?

I think awesome talent will find a way to play. Doesn't justify the selectoral nonsense that goes on.

Laxman definitely did it, but he may have had a slice of fortune that allowed his talent to express itself. Among other things was he not helped to some extent by Azhar, Jadeja and even Mongia leaving due to the match fixing scandal?

I think it is more fair to say he demanded his place in the team due to a stellar run in the domestics that was too good to ignore. SRT pretty much said the same after that dream run. That is what I meant -- persist at such a high level in the domestics that you cannot afford to be ignored. Those with awesome talent should take that route.

Badri has been having a rather hard time getting a call up (though watching him bat yesterday did not necessarily make me feel that he is "truly truly talented" but may be still a very good cricketer.

I didn't see him yesterday but Badri has to shoulder at least a little  blame than point fingers elsewhere. He had some failures in critical domestic matches in the last 18 months.

I do feel that things have changed. One big example is Gambhir. No one will try to throw him out now on allegations of classlessness etc. for a while, even though his initial stint was pretty bad, with flaws in his batting that he subsequently ironed out. Incidentally, I read the cricinfo article about the bleak future of the Indian batting based on Vijay, Badri and Saha's batting. I was left wondering if the author remembered that the No 1. test batsman today (who also failed) did not start his test career with a bundle of glory, or that one of the two men in the SAF side responsible for their imposing total had a less than modest beginning.

Agreed.

[WicketView]

Check the other thread about unlucky cricketers. One can ask whether they were "truly truly talented" ie. Bradman level ? Tendulkar level?

I think awesome talent will find a way to play. Doesn't justify the selectoral nonsense that goes on.

Agree ... as before. If you mean someone really really exceptional ...sure. But that is an exclusive club. And often good players who are the best choice at that point will miss that bus.

Laxman definitely did it, but he may have had a slice of fortune that allowed his talent to express itself. Among other things was he not helped to some extent by Azhar, Jadeja and even Mongia leaving due to the match fixing scandal?

I think it is more fair to say he demanded his place in the team due to a stellar run in the domestics that was too good to ignore. SRT pretty much said the same after that dream run. That is what I meant -- persist at such a high level in the domestics that you cannot afford to be ignored. Those with awesome talent should take that route.

I would disagree. Yes, of course, Laxman demanded his place in a fair world. But I am not so sure, even his herculean efforts alone would be enough if there had been no exodus.

Badri has been having a rather hard time getting a call up (though watching him bat yesterday did not necessarily make me feel that he is "truly truly talented" but may be still a very good cricketer.

I didn't see him yesterday but Badri has to shoulder at least a little  blame than point fingers elsewhere. He had some failures in critical domestic matches in the last 18 months.

I did, and can't say I was really that impressed. But, I do feel that things were unfair on him.

I do feel that things have changed. One big example is Gambhir. No one will try to throw him out now on allegations of classlessness etc. for a while, even though his initial stint was pretty bad, with flaws in his batting that he subsequently ironed out. Incidentally, I read the cricinfo article about the bleak future of the Indian batting based on Vijay, Badri and Saha's batting. I was left wondering if the author remembered that the No 1. test batsman today (who also failed) did not start his test career with a bundle of glory, or that one of the two men in the SAF side responsible for their imposing total had a less than modest beginning.

Agreed.

[feverpitch]

Obviously KKD doesnt according to our selectors since Saha is replacing KKD in the squad.

But thank our great selectors for their decision making  --Saha makes debut as batsman ahead of the specialist bats.

Jokers!

this actually is bad even for saha. Its unfair for him to be judged based on this game .... and judged as a specialist bat. Way  to ruin a career.

maybe that's the game...

yup blame this on the western union too. It is the good old ... NEVER something that the commies did.

So

1. You are acknowledging that the "Western Union" does exist!

2. You are saying that Jaggu Dalmiya is/was a commie?

[gouravk]

i have been seeing badri bat off and on in domestics for the past few years and clearly it was evident that all the brouhaha about him being unfairly treated was not justified. he is not one-tenth the  player that dravid is though he is aiming to slot in a similar kind of role.

[WicketView]

From his batting in this test, I agree that he is nowhere close to  Dravid (at the time of his debut), even though he might be expected to have the advantage of more years.

[gouravk]

but you need to see where dravid was when he made his debut too ... class-wise !

[WicketView]

Did not get you.

[poondu]

It is a joke to compare Badri and RD. He is playing in Yuvi's place and should be compared with him. Even though he struggled, he fought it out in the first innings. I think he has the right attitude for test cricket. I am not sure he has the talent to take on the likes of Steyn and Morkel. I would give him another shot.

[gouravk]

Did not get you.

compare where dravid was when he made his debut as opposed to where badri is classwise.

poondu, the comparison comes because for long the talk in indian cricket circles is badri is the like-for-like replacement for dravid ... probably because of his long innings and big scores, patient batting in domestic cricket etc

[WicketView]

Did not get you.

compare where dravid was when he made his debut as opposed to where badri is classwise.

poondu, the comparison comes because for long the talk in indian cricket circles is badri is the like-for-like replacement for dravid ... probably because of his long innings and big scores, patient batting in domestic cricket etc

The point I made was that Dravid, even though much younger than Badri at his debut, had way way better than Badri. In fact this was in agreement with your previous comment, so you probably don't disagree with this. And since this is the comparison you are talking about, it is puzzling as to what you are trying to say.

[gouravk]

all i am trying to say is that badri is in nature a bat more similar to dravid than to yuvi w.r.t temperament strike rate etc ... so he was talked of as a natural successor to dravid ... which he is likely to fall way short of ...