Wriddhiman Saha: It's my best Test knock so far
Wriddhiman Saha has rated his 117 in the ongoing third Test against Australia as his best knock and added that the support that he is getting from the team has had a positive impact on his batting. Saha and Cheteshwar Pujara shared in a 199-run partnership to lead India to a mammoth 603/9.
"This is the best among the three I have. We badly needed a partnership. My partnership began slowly. One of the best," Saha said at the press conference.
“I practice a lot in the nets against the short ball. I work with the batting coach (Sanjay Bangar), Raghu (the throw-down expert), Anil bhai (Kumble, the head coach), the fast bowlers – my strength is to let the short ball go, that’s what I work on.”
Although Saha’s ability behind the stumps has never been in doubt, his batting capability has developed by leaps and bounds, particularly after the tour of West Indies last July-August. He has scored three Test centuries and won a match off his own bat against New Zealand with twin unbeaten half-tons on a difficult track at the Eden Gardens.
“I have not made too many changes, but I am backing myself a lot more. My go-to shots, the sweep and the shot over the top stepping out, I am playing them with a lot more assurance. Initially, when I came into the Test team, I played those shots hesitantly but now I am 100% confident. The team, the captain, the coaches, everyone is fully behind me and that is good for me.”
Speaking about the partnership at Ranchi, Saha said, "Puji shows a lot of patience in domestic cricket – regularly makes 200s and 300s. Given that backdrop, his patience is always on top. The way he showed patience here even as wickets were falling at the other end after short partnerships … he was trying to curtail his shots and have as long a partnership as possible.
“We needed a partnership, and we built it slowly. Puji made a double and I made a hundred, so this hundred has to be the best of my three centuries so far. When I went into bat, Puji said let’s aim for as long a partnership as possible, take it 10-15 runs at a time. I tried to do that, back my strengths, avail of the loose balls and respect the good balls.”