5 Wicketkeepers Who Could’ve Replaced Saha Instead of Parthiv

Here’s a list of five wicketkeepers who could have replaced Saha in India’s third match against England in Mohali.

Parthiv Patel’s call-up to replace Wriddhiman Saha in India’s third Test against England (starting on 26 November) raised a few eyebrows. Head coach Anil Kumble said Parthiv had been chosen over the rest for his “keeping skills and experience”.

Parthiv has been Gujarat's top run-getter in three of the last four Ranji Trophy seasons. However, the 31-year-old has not played Test cricket for India in eight years and the last time he played international cricket was also four years ago.

Here’s a list of five wicketkeepers who could have replaced Saha instead of Parthiv Patel in the next Test.

Rishabh Pant

Not only could he have filled in as wicketkeeper but Delhi’s Rishabh Pant could also have served as a major value addition to the Indian squad as a batsman.

Opening for India in the Under-19 World Cup, Rishabh smashed a record-breaking fifty against Nepal – followed by a century against Namibia. He then batted himself into the record books on 8 November as he struck the fastest ever hundred by an Indian in a first-class game, hitting a 48-ball ton against Jharkhand in a Ranji Trophy fixture. He currently leads the 2016 Ranji chart with 799 runs, which includes four tons and a triple century against Maharashtra.

However, lack of experience in international cricket killed his chances. As Anil Kumble said – “Rishabh has shown exuberance and has got a lot of runs in domestic cricket this season, but Parthiv was chosen for his keeping skills and his experience.”

Dinesh Karthik

Though he last played Test cricket for India in 2010, Dinesh Karthik is one of the more experienced wicketkeepers who were up for selection in place of Saha. Karthik has been missing from international cricket scene for a while but he’s been a consistent performer in domestic cricket.

In the current Ranji season, Dinesh scored 163, 73, 95, 65, 80 and 54 for Tamil Nadu but has not been keeping wickets since his injury during the match against Madhya Pradesh. During the presser, Anil Kumble mentioned that Karthik had not been picked instead of Saha because he had not been “keeping wickets for Tamil Nadu”.

An extremely disappointed Dinesh said that he had “worked hard on (his) keeping skills” and that he would “be fit for the next game against Gujarat as a keeper."

Sanju Samson

Another young wicketkeeper-batsman, Sanju Samson from Kerala could have been given a chance to prove himself in this match against England. The 22-year-old first played for Rajasthan Royals in the 2013 edition of the IPL. After a successful run there, Samson was bought by Delhi Daredevils in 2016 for a whopping Rs 4.2 crores.

He earned his maiden India call-up in 2014 for the five ODIs and a solitary Twenty20 International against England, but the first time he played for India was in July 2015 in a T20I game against Zimbabwe. Samson also started this Ranji season by scoring an outstanding unbeaten hundred against Jammu & Kashmir.

Naman Ojha

Not only is Naman Ojha a wicketkeeper – he is also a top-order batsman. With only one Test and one ODI under his belt, his India career has been short-lived. After being named captain of the India A team earlier this year, Naman was inexplicably dropped from the squad right before the tour.

However, Naman has had a successful stint in domestic cricket. As an important part of the Madhya Pradesh cricket team for almost 15 years, Naman has scored around 9,000 runs and 20 centuries.

Robin Uthappa

Yet to make his Test debut, Robin Uthappa has had a substantial amount of experience in the shorter formats of the game. Part of the Indian squad that won the T20 world cup in 2007, the 31-year-old hasn’t played international cricket since the India tour of Zimbabwe in 2015.

An occasional wicketkeeper for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Uthappa has been playing domestic cricket for Karnataka in recent times. He even scored a century in their recent match against Odisha in Mumbai.