Wriddhiman Saha made an impact, says New Zealand's Luke Ronchi
With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Test series against New Zealand, the Indian cricket team will move to the top of the ICC Test rankings. The win at Kolkata was a clear indicator of what this team is capable of.
Also Read: Manoj Tiwari hails “special” Wriddhiman Saha
India won the Kolkata Test by 178 runs, thanks to the overall team performance. However, Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha received heaps of praise for his unbeaten fifties in both the innings.
Saha's knock came at a crucial time in both innings as the game could have drifted away pretty easily.
Ronchi impressed with Saha’s technique
New Zealand's wicketkeeper-batsman, Luke Ronchi didn't hesitate in admitting the damage done by Saha at Eden Gardens and said, “Saha has made an impact in the series.”
He further went on to add, "For Saha to come out and get two fifties and stitch partnerships in both innings was brilliant and that made a difference in the game. I think he's made a difference in the Test ."
Ronchi was highly impressed with Saha's technique against both fast bowlers and spinners, "Saha is a good, strong batsman. He played our spinners very well and has a technique that worked pretty well against our quick bowlers too. It really made a big difference in the game."
Saha has scored a total of 112 runs in the two matches that he has played so far and has the highest batting average in the series that stands at 112.0 as well.
Ronchi felt that the Indian lower order did a great job in the last two Tests. He said, "In both the Tests, the Indians have made good runs at the lower order. We really didn't expect that to happen because we bowled well to everyone in the Indian batting line-up."
Ashwin and Jadeja completely different bowlers: Ronchi
Talking about the New Zealand cricket team's struggle against the Indian spinners Ronchi said, "Both Ashwin and Jadeja have been fantastic. They are two completely different spinners in the way they plan their attacks against batsmen."
Ronchi went on to say, "You need to have two different mindsets as a batsman. You have to come up with your own game plan that hopefully works against both of them. Ashwin took 10 or 11 wickets in the first Test, while Jadeja was not far behind. They keep taking wickets against us."
Also read: Wriddhiman Saha, Rohit Sharma and Luke Ronchi move up in Test batsmen’s rankings
Ravichandran Ashwin is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 14 scalps so far followed by Ravindra Jadeja who has picked up 10 wickets.
With the series lost, the New Zealand team must pick the positives from the first two Tests in order to salvage some pride in the third Test which is scheduled from 8th to 12th of October at Indore.