JOHANNESBURG: Is Wriddhiman Saha injured? The official word is yes. So when did he pick up the injury? BCCI’s official media release stated that the wicketkeeper had “suffered an upper left hamstring tendon injury during training on Thursday (two days before the Test).” On the eve of the Test, during the team’s practice session, the wicketkeeper was taking throw downs and participating in the usual catching drills. So if he had picked up an injury, why was he practicing again on Friday, especially with chances of him aggravating the injury? A hamstring injury usually takes a much longer time to heal.
From the moment the Cape Town Test ended on Day 4 and Sanjay Bangar brought Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel, KL Rahul and Ishant Sharma for a net session as early as January 9, the indications coming out from the camp was that the Gujarat keeper would most likely find a place in the second Test. With Rahul already being touted to replace Shikhar Dhawan, indications from the team management suggested that Parthiv would come in place of Saha, because they prefer having a left-hander in the mix. And on the eve of the Test, sources in the know revealed to Express that Parthiv was preferred because he was seen as better player against pace and bounce.
But on the morning of the second Test, captain Virat Kohli revealed that Saha was injured. But it still took four days for the team to confirm the official status. If Saha was injured and was unavailable for selection, it could have been communicated earlier. But like many other things, it was kept under wraps. Perhaps, they didn’t want to reveal their plans to South Africa. But when Mohammed Shami walked out of the field with a headache, it was communicated within minutes. The suspense surrounding Saha ended much later.
It is hard to understand the team’s communication, especially that of the captain’s, who right through the Champions Trophy revealed there was no trouble with then-coach Anil Kumble, only for the episode to get a lot worse after the campaign ended. Kohli has again showed he can contradict his own statements. In a press conference, just before departure from Mumbai, he revealed how not playing a practice match and reaching just a week before the first Test was a disadvantage. But, on Wednesday, he was having none of it. “I don’t believe in that (arriving early and preparing). We had a result in three days in Cape Town and we had no complaints and we really enjoyed the pitch we played on because we had an equal chance of winning. We were not good enough,” he said.
With the results not going his way, perhaps, Kohli was taking his frustration out on the media, who kept questioning his choice of playing XI. Without justifying the decision to drop Ajinkya Rahane and play Rohit Sharma, he said, “No one thought Rahane should be playing in Cape Town,” before the Centurion Test. Post the loss, when asked the same, he again gave an answer that was unconvincing. “Look when something doesn’t work, obviously it’s going to be spoken against. We are used to that. We as a team don’t think of what the opinion going around is.”