"Never going to play for India..": Wriddhiman Saha relinquishes Duleep Trophy spot for youngster

Wriddhiman Saha played his last Test for India in December 2021 against New Zealand at Wankhede.

Team India are badly missing a consistent wicket-keeper batter since Rishabh Pant met with a horrible car accident in December 2022. The 25-year-old has been out of the action for at least one year. In this duration, India has tried a number of keepers across formats. Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Jitesh Sharma, KL Rahul and KS Bharat have been a few wicketkeepers that have been picked by India in all three formats.

For the white-ball cricket, India have some good options but when it comes to test cricket, there are no wicket-keepers batsmen who can make an impact like Pant did in his test career. Bharat made his test debut in the high-profile Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at home. He didn't have a decent debut series but despite that he was part of the playing XI in the World Test Championship 2023 final against Australia, which India lost by 209 runs.

"I am never going to play for India"- Wriddhiman Saha

Bharat has so scored 129 runs in five tests he has played at an average of 18.43. These are just below par numbers for a place in the Indian team. On the other hand, Ishan Kishan, who is the back-up keeper, doesn't have convincing stats in red-ball cricket. As a result, many still believe that Wriddhiman Saha has still much cricket left in him, despite aging 38. Notably, Wriddhiman Saha was the first-choice keeper for India after MS Dhoni in the red-ball cricket.

But as Pant made his debut, just got immense success and Wriddhiman Saha was later sidelined because of Pant's consistent performances. However, the 38-year-old revealed that head coach Rahul Dravid conveyed him that they are looking beyond him now. Though Wriddhiman Saha is pretty fit for his age and has done a brilliant job with both bat and gloves for his domestic team (Tripura) and even for Gujarat Titans in the IPL. He scored 371 runs in the IPL 2023, including a 54-run knock against Chennai Super Kings in the final.

However, the 38-year-old came into the consideration for Duleep Trophy after Ishan Kishan opted out of the tournament due to the West Indies tour. Kishan decided to withdraw because he is likely to be part of the test team. After he confirmed his decision, the Tripura selector Jayanta Dev contacted Shah as a East Zone keeper. However, Saha denied that proposal, saying that he doesn't have any hope of making it to the Indian team and asked this place to be given someone who is younger than him.

In a discussion with PTI, Jayanta revealed, "To be fair to Wriddhiman, he said that Duleep Trophy is for India hopefuls. If I am never going to play for India, then doesn't make sense in preventing a youngster from making a case. Hence we selected Abhishek Porel, who was the third choice." Thus, DC wicket-keeper Abhishek Porel came into the season while India A skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran will lead East Zone in Duleep Trophy.