Wriddhiman Saha sends back Mahmudullah Riyad with a screamer of a catch

Saha has been near-flawless with the keeping gloves ever since he made his Test comeback.

Published - 22 Nov 2019, 16:30 IST | Updated - 22 Nov 2019, 16:30 IST

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Prior to the South Africa Test Series, it was announced that Wriddhiman Saha would keep wickets for India. It was owing to his superior wicketkeeping skills to that of Rishabh Pant. The Bengal cricketer didn’t disappoint and has now carried forward his form in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. The Howrah-born is currently a part of the Day-Night Test in Kolkata.

At the Eden Gardens, Saha weaved his magic behind the wickets to energize the players and the audience at the iconic venue. To start with, he took a sterling catch to send back Shadman Islam, who was looking the most compact amongst the top order batters. Shadman got 29 off 52 with five fours before Umesh Yadav found his outside edge after which Saha pouched the leather.

Saha takes another stunner

Five overs later, Saha pulled off another incredible catch, this time to get rid of Mahmudullah, who hasn’t had the best of times of late. Riyad started in a scratchy manner as he got a thick outside edge in the second ball he faced, but the cherry didn’t carry to Saha. In the next few overs, the batsman scored a couple of fours to gain some sort of a momentum. However, it didn’t last long.

In the fourth ball of the 19th over, Ishant Sharma produced a delivery, that straightened a wee bit. Mahmudullah made a tentative poke towards the leather, but ended up getting a thick outside-edge. The ball flew towards the first slip where Virat Kohli was standing. The ball was dying and hence, it would have been tough for the Indian skipper to get both his hands underneath the ball.

Hence, it was pretty evident that Saha had to pull off a dive to pouch the ball. He dived full length on to his right, outstretching his arm. The ball somehow stuck in the webbing between the forefinger and the thumb. Kohli, standing beside him, was left bemused and he lauded Saha for the take. Riyad had to perish after scoring six off 21 and the Tigers were reduced to 60/6 in 19.4 overs.