Wriddhiman Saha

Wriddhiman Saha is an Indian cricketer who plays for the national cricket team. He is the current first class captain of Tripura Cricket Team in domestic cricket and wicket keeper for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League. He was the first cricketer to score a century in an Indian Premier League final.

Saha made his Test debut in February 2010, as a specialist batsman. He scored his maiden Test century at St. Lucia on a tour of the Caribbean. He was man of the match in the 3rd series.

Early life

Saha played for the Under – 19s and the Under – 22s team before being promoted to first – class cricket.

Saha is from Siliguri. In 2011 he married Romi Saha; the couple have two children.

In 2022 he revealed that a journalist had bullied and threatened him. A BCCI committee investigated the claims and the journalist, Boria Majumdar, was banned for two years from interviewing any cricketer.

Domestic Career

• One – day debut: in the Ranji Trophy competition of 2006 – 07, against Assam
• He scored a duck in his debut innings in the following match. Nearing the end of his brief run in the Ranji Trophy, he played three one – day games for the East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy.
• First – class debut: in the 2007 – 08 Ranji Trophy, against Hyderabad, where he scored 111 not out
• Saha also made the East Zone team in the Duleep Trophy in the 2007 – 08 season.
• Saha’s century for Bengal on his Ranji debut landed him a contract with IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.
• Saha was named in the India A squad which played three limited overs matches against the Israel Invitational XI, where he was selected on the basis of his performance in the Indian Premier League. India A won the series 3–0. Saha scored an unbeaten 85 in the third match in which India chased 235.
• Saha also has a record of making the fastest century in domestic cricket. He scored 102 runs of just 20 balls at a strike rate of 510 with 4 fours and 14 sixes in 2018.
• Saha also has records with KT, joining in 2011, at WBC League. He captained the team from 2011 to 2013. KT won its 2nd title in 2012 under his captaincy. In WBC 2015 he scored 2 centuries and 4 half centuries, after he was retained by KT in 2015 WBC Mega auction.
• He scored his LA highest score in 2017 which was 154 (118) in the 65 over WBC League 2017. In the 2021 Mumbai WBC he scored 150 (123) vs CBST. His fastest 50 in WBC was 54 (18).

Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 Franchise Career

• Saha played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three sessions of IPL but in 2011 he was picked by Chennai Super Kings as a reserve wicket keeper for MS Dhoni.
• He also represented the Chennai Super Kings in 2012 and 2013.
• In the 2014 IPL Auction Saha was purchased by Kings XI Punjab as a specialist wicketkeeper.
• In the IPL Final against Kolkata Knight Riders Saha became the first player to score a hundred in an IPL final when he made an unbeaten 115 runs from 55 balls, including 10 fours and 8 sixes. However, despite his feat, his team eventually lost the match.
• In December 2018, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League.
• In the 2020 season, he only played 4 matches and scored 214 runs with a 70+ average including 2 brilliant half centuries as an opener of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
• In the 2021 Season, playing in 9 matches, he scored 131 runs with an average of 14.55 and strike rate of 93.57.
• He was released by Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the IPL 2022 auction.
• In February 2022, he was bought by the Gujarat Titans in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League tournament.

International Career

• Test debut: against South Africa
• He scored a duck in the first innings, but scored 36 in the second innings.
• Saha played in the fourth match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in January 2012 in place of MS Dhoni, who was banned for slow over rate, where he made 35 runs in the first Test which helped Virat Kohli get his maiden Test Century.
• On 9 December 2014, he was selected to play his first test match since January 2012 against Australia, at the same ground where he had played his last match, because MS Dhoni was out with a thumb injury. He made 25 runs in the first inning and 13 runs in the second inning. He also played in the fourth match of the series and made 35 runs.
• In 2015, he was selected for India’s Tour of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for test matches. He scored 2 fifties in 2 test matches he played in Sri Lanka. He also played in tests of Gandhi – Mandela Freedom Trophy 2015.
• In November 2019, in the second Test against Bangladesh, Saha became the fifth wicket – keeper for India to affect 100 dismissals in Test cricket.
• In November, 2021, Saha was selected as the first – choice wicket keeper in the two – match test series between India and New Zealand. Despite suffering a neck injury during the first test, Saha scored an unbeaten 61 runs during the second innings of the match, which earned him praise from critics.
• ODI debut: against New Zealand in 2010 in 5 ODIs series and played in the first 3 matches

Major Achievements

• Saha was named in the India A squad which played three limited overs matches against the Israel Invitational XI, where he was selected on the basis of his performance in the Indian Premier League. India A won the series 3–0. Saha scored an unbeaten 85 in the third match in which India chased 235.
• Saha also has a record of making the fastest century in domestic cricket. He scored 102 runs of just 20 balls at a strike rate of 510 with 4 fours and 14 sixes in 2018.
• Saha also has records with KT, joining in 2011, at WBC League. He captained the team from 2011 to 2013. KT won its 2nd title in 2012 under his captaincy. In WBC 2015 he scored 2 centuries and 4 half centuries, after he was retained by KT in 2015 WBC Mega auction.
• He scored his LA highest score in 2017 which was 154 (118) in the 65 over WBC League 2017. In the 2021 Mumbai WBC he scored 150 (123) vs CBST. His fastest 50 in WBC was 54 (18).
• In November 2019, in the second Test against Bangladesh, Saha became the fifth wicket – keeper for India to affect 100 dismissals in Test cricket.
• In November, 2021, Saha was selected as the first – choice wicket keeper in the two – match test series between India and New Zealand. Despite suffering a neck injury during the first test, Saha scored an unbeaten 61 runs during the second innings of the match, which earned him praise from critics.