Saha enters record books

Erases Dhoni’s mark for most number of catches in a Test

January 08, 2018 09:27 pm | Updated 09:27 pm IST - Cape Town

Marked improvement: Wriddhiman Saha has shown tremendous anticipation and balance on a bouncy track too.

Marked improvement: Wriddhiman Saha has shown tremendous anticipation and balance on a bouncy track too.

Wriddhiman Saha’s keeping on a pitch of pace, bounce and seam movement has been among the highlights of the first Test here.

He has kept his eye on the ball and the date with the record books.

At Newlands on Monday, Saha pouched his 10th catch of the match, making it the most number of catches and dismissals by an Indian ’keeper in Tests.

When he held Morne Morkel off Bhuvneshwar Kumar on day four, Saha went past M.S. Dhoni’s previous mark of nine dismissals, which included a stumping.

Interestingly, Dhoni achieved the feat in the Melbourne Test against Australia in 2014; he announced a shock retirement from Test cricket after the match concluded.

Saha has been impressive with his anticipation, balance and the quality of gathering on the sort of surface that a ’keeper from the sub-continent doesn’t normally come across.

The manner he moved to snaffle up the climbing ball after Quinton de Kock nicked Jasprit Bumrah in the South African second innings reflected his reflexes and that precious ability to make difficult catches appear easy.

In these pitches — unlike in the sub-continent where a ‘keeper is tested while standing up to spinners — the man with the big gloves has to throw himself in front of the cordon to pouch edges, or leap high to gather or complete a dismissal and Saha can come up with gravity defying acts.

Only England’s Jack Russell, who achieved the feat against South Africa in Johannesburg, 1995, and A.B. de Villiers, versus Pakistan in 2013 at the same venue, are ahead of Saha with 11 catches and dismissals in a Test.

Saha now joins the illustrious Bob Taylor from England and Australia’s Adam Gilchrist, both of whom have 10 catches and dismissals in a Test.

The little Saha can indeed fly.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.