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06.05.2019 09:54
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In the not so distant future, India might face an issue: if Wriddhiman Saha, their specialist wicketkeeper in Tests, does not succeed or gets injured, who is the best replacement for him?KL Rahul doubling up as a wicketkeeper-batsman in the IPL has helped him jump a few places in the queue, which is led by Naman Ojha and includes Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, and Rishabh Pant. For now Saha, a specialist wicketkeeper, remains Indias first choice, as Kohli had made clear ahead of the sides departure for the Caribbean.Obviously, whenever Rahul played, he has played as an opener or as a back-up option for the opening slot. I think it is up to the team management to take a call on the batting combination, but as far as wicketkeeping goes, Saha, being a specialist keeper is always the first choice, Kohli had said in Bangalore earlier this month. Sahas batting has also improved a lot in the last few months and we can bank on him as he is a quality glovesman who can grab those half chances.Former Bengal and India wicketkeeper-batsman, Deep Dasgupta firmly backed a specialist wicketkeeper like Saha over part-time options. Especially when you are talking about Test match cricket, Id always say a specialist is better, Dasgupta told ESPNcricinfo.Mental strength is crucial to succeed in the longest format, according to Dasgupta, who had also opened the batting for India in Test cricket. T20 and one-day cricket is different, but in Test cricket, the mindset and the way you think about the game is completely different, he said. If youre looking at somebody to be a top-order batsman and keep wickets, the physical training is different. There will be matches where you need to be on the ground for four days, either keeping wickets or batting.The other important issue is whether your keeping will affect your batting or your batting will affect your keeping. If its somebody who has grown up as a wicketkeeper-batsman, he knows how to handle it. But for someone who is going to start keeping now, you dont know, and God forbid if the keeping affects batting, you lose the player as a keeper and a batsman. Thats the last thing you want, so its a very tentative call.With India set to play 13 Tests at home in the upcoming season, Sahas skills especially on turning pitches will be tested. Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Kiran More also said that a specialist keeper was the key.All wicketkeepers bat well now. You look at Parthiv [Patel] or Naman Ojha or Wriddhiman Saha, they all bat well, theyve all got fantastic domestic records and scored loads of hundreds, so I think there is no doubt about their batting credentials, More said. But when you play on such types of wickets, you need to have better wicketkeepers all the time. Why did India win the World Cup? I think its because we had a player who could bat at No. 6 or 7 and was a wicketkeeper. When you look at the teams that have won World Cups, they always had a better wicketkeeper-batsman, be it Adam Gilchrist or MS Dhoni. Thats why these countries have done well. While Sahas glovework is tidy, India may still face a problem because his batting stats have been underwhelming, despite Kohlis assessment of his improved skills. In 19 Test innings, Saha has two half-centuries and averages only 21.58, as opposed to his first-class average of 42.60. Saha isnt at the same level as Dhoni - who averaged 38.09 - as a batsman and if India play five bowlers, as Kohli has preferred to do, they could have a long tail.Saha may not be technically correct, Dasgupta, formerly Sahas senior in the Bengal side and chairman of the state selection panel, said, but he was effective.Ive known Saha since he started playing first-class cricket, or even before that, when he was playing under-22 for Bengal, Dasgupta said. He is not a very orthodox batsman, but he is very effective. His numbers in first-class cricket - he averages over 40 - are as good as any batsman around. I still remember a couple of fifties he got in Sri Lanka which were very, very crucial. He might not score 10 out of 10 in terms of beauty, but he is quite effective with the bat. I think he is good enough; you just need to keep faith in him. Knowing Wriddhiman, I know why Virat Kohli is showing that much faith in him.According to Dasgupta, whether it is Saha or Ojha or Rahul, the wicketkeeper needed to be given a long run in the Test side. We have to be very conscious in what we want in the future. I wouldnt look at part-time keepers. I wouldnt mind if someone like KL Rahul opts to be a keeper, but I dont like the tag part-time. The keepers we have in the country are all good batsmen, be it Naman or Wriddhiman. They all have very, very impressive batting numbers. So all I would like to see is these guys being given enough opportunities to figure out where they stand. Its a little unfair to say Naman isnt good enough when you have already given him one opportunity and he has done decently well. We have enough talent in the country to not look at part-time options.Saha, Ojha and Karthik are older than 30, but Dasgupta said fitness should be the priority, rather than age. Someone like a Naman or a DK [Dinesh Karthik], for that matter, who is in his early 30s, in this day and age, your age is just a number. Its about how fit you are and whether you are performing or not. And if these guys who are in their 30s are still fit enough to keep wickets and bat in Test match cricket, why not, even if its just for two or three years. If its a 50-over team, you have the Champions Trophy coming up next season, or if its 20-over cricket, you are looking at the World Cup. But in Test cricket, theres no big tournament. Youre looking at the next series. So I dont understand building a team for the future as far as Test cricket is concerned. Cheap China Jerseys . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. 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The crowd began jeering the terrible bit of fielding - Mohammad Amir committed worse mistakes on Thursday - but as he dropped to the field, the jeers turned into a concerned collection of whispers.Amir buried his face in the turf as he clutched his knee. He couldnt keep still through the pain.His knee didnt slide on the ground, it dug in. His weight went towards the ball, but his knee did not. His first instinct was to go after the ball, but as he moved, grabbing for it in mid-air, he just collapsed.Mark Taylor suggested he had a kneecap problem, those in the pool swam across for a closer look and medics from both teams converged on Amir. Some non-experts noticed swelling, others a cruciate ligament injury, the sort that ended players careers every footy season in Australia. It was the kind of pointless speculation you do when there was a star crumpled before you. Simon Jones was mentioned a lot, and no one was talking about magical reverse swing from the 2005 Ashes.A stretcher was called for, but none came. So Amir was helped over the boundary by support staff. People start to talk about why it had to be him. We hadnt seen him unleashed in the series, or at all since he got back to Tests, and now it looked like he could be out of order.His last 39 balls were dots, which seemed to be part of the Misbah-ul-Haq plan to get to dusk and then hope something happened. But it wasnt dusk yet, we hadnt seen what the pink ball could do under dark Gabba skies. We hadnt seen anything. It got darker in the incredibly long time it seemed to take the ambulance cart to make it out to him.Amir has overcome stupidity, criminal acts, jail time and five years out of professional sport, and now stopping a ball at fine leg had brought him down.On the outfield, there was an enormous divot and, despite the break in play, no one covered it up. Pakistan had a similar-sized hole in their team.The message from the PCB was not to worry; the early signs were good, they said. But how could you not? An entire army of people were down on the boundary helping Amir out. He couldnt even hobble the 80 metres to the change room.At drinks in the final session, 18 minutes after Amir had fallen, a groundsman went out and filled in his divot. Twelve minutes after that, Amir jogged back onto the field. His recovery had seemingly taken less time than it took for the ambulance cart to reach him. As he ran across the outfield you could almost sense the different sections of the crowd realising it was him. There was a sound wave of people saying, Whats all this about?Was he brave, stupid, or soft? Did it even matter? The new ball was due soon and he was obviously going to take it.ddddddddddddMaybe, if you squinted with your head on the side, he was limping. But he still took that brand new fluorescent pink ball. Amir didnt trample the turf like Wahab Riaz. He wasnt a killer semi-trailer like Ryan Harris. He floated across the grass, barely making an impact, and even at the crease there was no violent crash. It was more a little skip and the ball zipped out of his fingers. This man whose kneecap was dislocated, whose anterior cruciate was torn, whose day, Test and series were over, was delivering a ball to Peter Handscomb like nothing was wrong.Until the third step of his follow through. And there was a limp, a worry, but he went back to the top of his mark and floated in a couple more times. Handscomb took a single off the the third ball; it was the first run off him in the last 42, delivered either side of a trip on the ambulance cart.The fourth ball was the Amir that made lovers of fast bowling cry when they first heard the news of his fixing all those years ago. It shaped to drift in, just short of a length, and then decided to go away, at pace. To get near it, you would have to be one of the best batsmen in the world, and Steven Smith was. The ball went through to Sarfraz Ahmed, who threw it to slip as Amir walked back to his mark.Later, after a few replays, it was clear Smith had edged the ball and, instead of enjoying his wicket, Amir finished the over hopping and grabbing at his knee, his trousers still stained from his fall.For the next little bit, he bowled more trademark Amir balls, the kind that made you gasp and despair at their beauty as they beat the bat. One was so good Smith seemed angry at its existence as he tried to recreate the kind of alien movement it got with his hand. There were more than went past Handscomb too; one of them took the edge but fell short of slip.It was the kind of magical spell Test cricket has been waiting to see from Amir for years, and hed been waiting for it the most. The only problem was, though he might have overcome serious injury, he couldnt take a wicket. As good as he was, as dangerous as he looked, and as much drama as he had created - none of it mattered when the edges did not carry, or when they werent spotted. His Lazarus rise was ultimately pointless.They say you cant tell much from just seeing the stats, but you could from Amirs on day one at the Gabba: Three limps, 18 overs, one knee injury, six maidens, one ambulance cart, one wicket, one injury, 33 runs and one miraculous recovery. ' ' ' |
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