What’s keeping Saha out?

Kolkata, July 19

India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was believed to be nursing a minor thumb injury but a BCCI official has claimed that he’s actually nursing a career-threatening shoulder problem, caused by a “bungled” rehabilitation programme at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). It has been learnt that Saha will have to undergo a surgery in England next month and that might rule him out of the tour of Australia later this year.  

“Wriddhiman’s rehabilitation has been a complete goof-up. Now only a surgery can put him back on track. Once he is done with the surgery, he will not be able to touch the bat for at least two months and then the rehab will start,” said the official.

Saha has been missing from action following a thumb injury sustained during this year’s IPL. However, the problem seems much more serious. On his Twitter page, Saha had recently posted that he was “going through a bad phase” but expects to come back strong. 

The BCCI official revealed that the 33-year-old Bengal stumper had long recovered from the thumb fracture. “Wriddhi first sustained a shoulder injury during the tour of South Africa while taking a catch. But it was a minor problem that didn’t bother him. He left the SA tour because of hamstring trouble, not shoulder pain,” the official claimed. “Since keepers don’t need to throw, Wriddhi played with the injury in IPL. He thought he could possibly play against England with a good rehab at NCA and take it from there. But the injury aggravated further at NCA.” 

The question is, whether the physio and others concerned had informed BCCI of the actual extent of Saha’s injury? It has been learnt that selection committee convenor Amitabh Chaudhary (acting secretary) wasn’t informed about it either by NCA or the selectors. “Isn’t it weird that a hairline fracture is taking two months to heal? No one probed the actual reason. Now he requires a major surgery and we can’t put a date on his comeback,” the official said. PTI