Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has parted ways with Bengal – his team in the domestic circuit – after a public fallout with a state association official. He has obtained a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to join the Tripura team.
The Saha-CAB issue came to light, particularly after the association’s joint secretary Debabrata Das publicly questioned his commitment to State cricket. Saha, who debuted for Bengal back in 2007, had expressed his disappointment to see people raising questions about his integrity.
“For me, too, it is a very sad feeling that I have to go through something like this after playing for Bengal for so long. It is disappointing that people make such comments and question your integrity. As a player, I had never faced such a thing in the past, but now that it has happened, even I need to (move on),” Saha had said.
Notably, the possibility of Saha joining Tripura was making rounds in the domestic circuit for some time. Meanwhile, the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) mentioned that Saha would be the mentor-cum-captain of the team.
“We (both TCA and Saha) have come to an agreement, in principle, on this matter. The details will be finalised next week when he comes to Agartala. Yesterday (Friday, July 1), we had an Apex Council meeting, and the members had a video-conferencing with him. The association is unanimous that Saha will be a good pick as a professional for the state. It will be the 35th year in our Ranji Trophy. We have not had a player from Tripura in the Indian team. That is our main target apart from doing well,” said Kishore Das of the TCA, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Saha has so far played 122 first-class matches, in which he has scored 6423 runs at an average of 41.98. The right-handed batter has smashed 13 hundreds and 38 half-centuries. When it comes to Test cricket, Saha has played 40 matches and made 1353 runs at an average close to 30.
Saha also had a tremendous season for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The veteran stumper scored 317 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 122.39 for Gujarat, who went on to clinch the trophy in their maiden season.
