Wriddhiman Saha set to return in Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament after 9-month injury break

He was once seen as a long-time replacement for Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the longer format but destiny had other plans for Wriddhiman Saha. After getting ruled out of the series against South Africa midway last year because of injury, the Bengal wicket-keeper-batsman hasn’t played a single international game. His last competitive game was in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year in May. The man finally is set to make a return to the game after a hiatus of nine months.

On Sunday, Bengal picked Saha for their 15-member squad that will compete in Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament starting later this week. Saha, who underwent surgery for a shoulder injury, had last played for his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in his home state. Bengal will take on Mizoram in a ‘Group D’ fixture of the tournament on February 21, the inaugural day.

“I’m approaching the tournament as just like returning from a normal break. It’s like the start of the season for me,” India Today cited reports as quoting Saha as saying on his return. He might find it difficult to return to the national side now, thanks to the phenomenal rise of Rishabh Pant over the last six months or so. Pant made an impressive debut in Test cricket in England last year, slamming a hundred, and last month, he belted an unbeaten 159 against Australia in Sydney in a Test match.

Saha not thinking about selection but only his performance

The 34-year-old, though is not thinking too much into it. He said he never played cricket thinking about the selection for it is not in his hands. “I’m focused on what is in my control and that is my performance. I’m keen to make full use of the opportunities that come my way,” he said.

Manoj Tiwary will lead Bengal in the tournament while Abhimanyu Easwaran will be his deputy. Bengal had last won the competition in 2010-11 season. This season, besides Mizoram, Bengal have Karnataka, Assam, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in their group and the matches will be held in Cuttack.

Saha has played in 32 Tests and nine ODIs scoring over 1,200 runs with three hundreds (all in Tests). He has effected 103 dismissals in international cricket.

Bengal squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament: Manoj Tiwary (captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-captain), Wriddhiman Saha, Sayan Ghosh, Shreevats Goswami, Vivek Singh, Shahbaz Ahmad, Writtick Chatterjee, Pradipta Pramanik, Prayas Ray Barman, Kanishk Seth, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Ashok Dinda, Ishan Porel and Ayan Bhattacharjee.

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