Wriddhiman Saha reveals his strategy against Sunil Narine
Scoring a century in the Indian Premier League doesn’t raise eyebrows anymore but to score one in a final is something that will definitely draw the attention of the cricketing world. Being India’s reserve wicket-keeper for a long time now, Wriddhiman Saha created history by scoring the first ever century in an IPL final.
In his innings of 115* off 55 deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2014 IPL final, Saha didn’t appear to be tied down by any bowler and was scoring freely off the mystery bowler Sunil Narine.
"Since I was playing Narine for the first time, I decided that I won't try to pick him from his hand," he said.
"Rather, I decided to stay on the backfoot and wait for that extra split second so that ball does what it intends to do. Rocking back helped me execute those slog pulls effectively," revealed Saha. Saha scored 35 off 18 balls against Narine, who has managed to outsmart even the best in the business.
Unlucky to play in the Mahendra Singh Dhoni era, Saha has had very few opportunities in the national colours: 2 Tests and 3 ODIs.
"I am a specialist wicketkeeper whose job is to also do well with the bat," he said.
When asked about what he looks forward to in the upcoming Bangladesh ODI series, the 29-year-old was very straightforward in his reply.
"Keeping was, is and will remain the top-most priority. For example, in this upcoming tour of Bangladesh, I will not bat higher than No. 6 or No. 7. I am practical about the fact. I won't bat before Ajinkya (Rahane), Cheteshwar (Pujara) or Suresh (Raina). So I would rather see myself as a keeper-batsman than other way round," concluded Saha.