Got conflicting signals from Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly: Wriddhiman Saha

New Delhi, February 20

Veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who was not included in India’s Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka, has said head coach Rahul Dravid had told him after the Test series loss in South Africa that the team management would explore new wicketkeeping options in future series. Saha said he was informed that the team was keen to give chances to younger talents.

Rohit Sharma was named the Test team captain on Saturday, while veterans Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and Saha were dropped.

“Rahul bhai said, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but for a while, a few selectors and the team management are thinking of trying a new keeper’,” Saha told a sports magazine. “I asked him whether it is because of my age or fitness, but Rahul bhai told me that it is not just because of age or performance. They were looking at younger talents, and since you are not playing in the eleven, we thought of looking at other talents.”

Saha added that he isn’t thinking of retirement at present. He also said he skipped the ongoing leg of the Ranji Trophy to be with his family.

Chetan Sharma, the chief selector, did not reveal the reason behind Saha’s sacking yesterday.

“I can’t tell you on what grounds he (Saha) has been dropped. That’s for selectors. All I can tell you is that he was told before and asked to play the Ranji trophy, which is the ladder for the Indian team. What we discussed between ourselves we can’t tell you,” Sharma said.

Dada’s assurance

“When I hit an unbeaten 61 taking a pain-killer in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur last November, Dada (BCCI president Sourav Ganguly) congratulated me over WhatsApp,” said Saha.

“He even mentioned that I should not worry about anything so long as he is at the helm of the BCCI. Such a message from the board president really boosted my confidence. But I failed to understand why everything changed so fast,” Saha added. — Agencies