New Zealand vs India 2020: Wriddhiman Saha opens up on being left out of playing XI for Test series
Wriddhiman Saha had made his comeback into the Indian Test side during their home season in 2019 (in the Test series against Bangladesh and South Africa). Although he couldn't contribute much with the bat, Saha showed with his performance behind the stumps why he is regarded as the best wicket-keeper in the country.
The team management, however, bizarrely decided to drop him from the playing eleven in their next Test assignment, which was a two-match series away to New Zealand, in order to fit in Rishabh Pant, who had batted well in overseas conditions (with hundreds in England and Australia).
Saha, though, understood the decision made by the team management to back Pant in overseas conditions and revealed that he kept the team's goal ahead of his personal goals.
“You have to go by team management decision based on the conditions but yes, inside, you feel that hopefully you will play since you played the last Test series," Saha told Sportstar.
“I keep the team in front and individual choices later. If team decides Rishabh will play, I will be fine with it as I want the team to win,” he added.
While he was not selected to play, Saha kept practicing in order to be ready for the Ranji Trophy final in case Bengal needed him. He played a valiant innings of 64 runs for his side but couldn't quite take them to a first-innings lead as they fell short by 44 runs, getting bowled out for 381 in reply to Saurashtra's 425.