Former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu claims “statistics are like miniskirts; they reveal more than they hide”. Another former India opener Aakash Chopra claims “numbers Do Lie” in his new book.
My take: Statistics don’t reveal. Statistics don’t do justice. Statistics need context.
Case in point. Wriddhiman Saha. Fun Fact: He is India’s fourth-highest run-scorer in this home season.
It may be hard to believe, but Saha actually made his Test debut way back in February 2010 – on that occasion as a specialist batsman.
When he deservedly got a permanent place in the Indian Test XI as a wicket-keeper, there were arguments that his batting wasn’t quite cut out for Tests, despite a batting average of 44.48 in first-class cricket. The questions on Saha’s abilities emerged in the backdrop of him replacing the long-serving MS Dhoni, who had scored nearly 5000 runs in Test cricket at an average nearly 40.
But in the last nine months, the keeper from Bengal has justified that he is not only an excellent wicket-keeper, but also a batsman who can score runs even at the Test cricket grade.
It might not be that obvious, but in the 13 Test matches that Saha has been part of (starting the tour of West Indies in July 2016), his aggregate of 615 runs is the fourth highest in the Indian team; only Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have scored more runs than Saha in those 13 Tests.
Point to be noted is that Saha has accumulated those runs while generally batting at number seven or eight.
More interestingly, in this home season, only two Indian batsmen – Kohli (5) and Pujara (4) – have scored more hundreds than Saha.
But in the context of the match situations, two of Saha’s three Test centuries could be labelled priceless.
Saha scored his maiden Test century at St. Lucia on the tour of the Caribbean; on that occasion, India, having been put in to bat, were reeling at 126-5 with the cream of the batting back in the pavilion. But Saha combined with Ashwin, and the pair rescued India to a competitive first-innings total. India went on to win the Test quite convincingly.
The 32-year-old has only grown in confidence since.
He has since added two more centuries to his kitty and his batting average has more than doubled.
Saha’s second hundred came when the Indian batsmen had the opportunity to make merry on some fabulous batting conditions against Bangladesh; Saha made a busy-looking 106 – one of three centuries in that Indian innings.
Most recently, Saha’s third hundred came at a very crucial juncture in the match; Australia had scored 451 batting first and India were six wickets down still 123 runs in deficit. Saha combined with Pujara; the pair added 199 runs and not only took India past Australia’s first innings score, but well beyond.
Saha, The Keeper
Saha has played 23 Tests as India’s designated wicket-keeper, and his numbers on the batting front compare favourably to some of India’s previous wicket-keepers.
In terms of runs, only Farokh Engineer (who also opened the innings), MS Dhoni and Nayan Mongia had scored more runs in their first 23 Tests than Saha currently has. In terms of Test hundreds though, Saha stands a clear winner; after 23 Tests, Engineer, Dhoni and Mongia had scored one Test century each, while Saha has three tons to his credit.
Saha doesn’t get credit for his wicket-keeping too – that’s because he is so good behind the stumps. India have played on some spinner-friendly (and demanding conditions for wicket-keepers) at home this season; yet, you will seldom see a mention of Saha missing an opportunity behind the stumps.
Despite keeping wickets for more overs than the opposition wicket-keepers, Saha has conceded fewer byes than his opposite numbers. This, despite the fact that Saha has had to keep wickets to two of the world’s best spinners and keep wickets on fourth innings surfaces in six of the nine Test matches he has played in in this home season.
While keeping wickets in the fourth innings at home this season, Saha did not concede a bye in three innings and conceded 14 byes in three other innings combined – that’s a total of 14 byes conceded in a total of 447.1 fourth-innings-overs. Aren’t those some incredible numbers?
Given his timely contributions with the bat and his safe glove-work behind the stumps, it is perhaps time, Saha got his due.
Numbers may or may not lie, but when looked at closely, and read in proper context, statistics can certainly help identify important contributors and performances.
*Data as of 24 March 2017.
(Arun Gopalakrishnan is The Quint’s in-house cricket stats expert. He can be reached at @statanalyst)
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