Wriddhiman Saha has been in the thick of things for all the non-cricketing reasons off-late. Whether it has been about him getting the axe from the Test side or the threatening messages received by him from a journalist. Team India’s legendary keeper Syed Kirmani has spoken in support of Saha and compared his situation with his own, when he was dropped from the Indian team, which he thinks made him “a victim of injustice.”
“Saha has got tremendous competition around him with all the youngsters performing well in the IPL and other limited-overs matches. He’s obviously very sad, but every cricketer has to go through the ups and downs, right? We don’t know what the selection committee and the team management think about the player. I have also been a victim of injustice, but nobody talks about it,” Kirmani told SportsKeeda in an interview.
Kirmani minced no words as he revealed how he was dropped from both the Test and ODI teams “for no fault” of his.
“I don’t know. I was at the pinnacle of my career around that time. Yet, I was dropped from both the Test and ODI teams for no fault of mine. There was no competition around me. I played 88 Tests and was the saviour of India’s ODI team on many occasions. Do you know, wrong reports were published in the newspapers suggesting that I was performing poorly? While somebody else would drop a catch in the slip cordon, they [the media] would publish my photograph and insinuate that Kirmani had dropped a catch or missed a stumping,” he said.
Kirmani also cited the example of his state team Karnataka, who didn’t give him an opportunity to make a comeback, which in turn made him move to the Railways team.
“I’ve always been a fighter. My own state [Karnataka] removed me from the team when I wanted to stage a comeback and honour my country. That’s why I was forced to move to the Railways team. The then secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association [KSCA] said, ‘Oh, so you’re going to the Railways? Let’s see how you perform there.’ Is that how you talk to a World Cup winner and someone who has always been a team man?,” he added.
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Kirmani suggested that Saha should continue to play cricket till he enjoys the game.
“Saha is a brave cricketer. He should keep playing as long as he enjoys the game like I did. Retirement is in his own hands. Nobody can force him [to retire],” Kirmani said.
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