Wriddhiman Saha recalls the innings when he and MS Dhoni opened together

MS Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha had been the colleagues for Team India for almost a decade before the former retired from international cricket in 2020. While Dhoni owned the wicket-keeping for the side, as well as the captaincy, Saha’s job was mostly as a wicket-keeper reserve.

Recently, Saha walked down the memory lane to reveal an incident during a video shared by his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans (GT). He talked about the innings when he and Dhoni opened the innings during a local tournament in Kolkata.

“Mahindra Singh Dhoni is a well-known name. Once we were playing in a tournament in Kolkata a long time ago as Dhoni was also invited to the tournament. I remember Dhoni had recently made his team India debut and he was considered one of the most dangerous ball hitters going around,” Saha said in the video shared by the GT.

“We opened the innings together and I remember that I was batting on 36 runs and Dhoni was on nine. He said to me ‘take a single and give him the strike’, and before I realized it, I was still batting on 41 and he had completed his century. I have learned a lot from him in the past years and we both share the same temperament while playing the game.”

Dhoni stepped down as the captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) just days ahead of the IPL 2022 opener against Kolkata Knight Riders. He handed the responsibility to Ravindra Jadeja. Saha, meanwhile, was signed by the GT at INR 1.9 crore at the 2022 mega auction.