Is SAHA the best keeper amongst the ones playing for the test playing nations?

[sourab10forever]

His keeping has been great. He was always good against fast bowlers but now his keeping to spinners has improved loads as well. Fabulous in the IND-SL series.

 

here are the other keepers :

 

De Kock 

Bairstow

Wade

Sarfaraz

BJ Watling

Candimal/Dickwella

Dowrich

M.Rahim

 

So who is the best among these?

 

PS : Only Keeping Skills to be considered.

[putrevus]

You cannot do it, a keeper no matter how good he is with gloves if he cannot bat is not much use to a team.Saha is a good keeper but he is not head shoulders above most keepers.

 

I would take De Kock and Bairstow before him in any conditions.

[Vilander]

only keeping skills i think bairstow and saha, i find dick and kock good too not too bad.

[Vilander]

^ alright that did not come out well...i meant 'i find dickwella and de kock good in keeping too' just to be clear.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Vilander

[sandeep]

De kock is a better keeper than Bairstow.    Saha is the best pure keeper in international cricket IMHO.   

[Khota]

I would not call him the best but he is good. He definitely has the potential to be the best. I would not trade him for any other keeper.

[King Tendulkar]

Saha is defo best glove work wise by quite a distance 

 

[sandeep]

23 minutes ago, Khota said:

I would not call him the best but he is good. He definitely has the potential to be the best. I would not trade him for any other keeper.

Who is better than him with the gloves in test cricket today?

[King Tendulkar]

3 hours ago, Vilander said:

only keeping skills i think bairstow and saha, i find dick and kock good too not too bad.

Bairstow is poor . Was very poor in Bangladesh and India tours .

 

too big too big good keepe imo . Too bulky as well 

[Khota]

2 hours ago, sandeep said:

Who is better than him with the gloves in test cricket today?

Pure keeping DeKock is pretty good too.

[SK_IH]

would love to have Bairstow in the side,what a player coming at 6,proper player

[rkt.india]

12 hours ago, Vilander said:

only keeping skills i think bairstow and saha, i find dick and kock good too not too bad.

Bairstow is very below average as a keeper. He wont find a place if not for his batting.

[King Tendulkar]

8 hours ago, Stumped said:

Saying Bairstow was poor in Asia is pretty harsh. Can't remember the Bangladesh series but head to head in the India series he out-kept Saha and Parthiv (alright, outdoing Parthiv isn't particularly hard...) on his first trip to Asia with the gloves.

 

Started of mediocre with the gloves but has come on massively in the last 1-2 years. Very similar path to Matt Prior really.

Out kept Saha lol what series were you watching lol 

 

was poor in Bangladesh could not cope with turn and bounce . Also very poor in India in contrast Saha gave a master class in keeping 

 

out kept saha , can't stop laughing at this lol

 ps bairstow much better bat then saha 

 

[SK_IH]

bairstow is a wonderful keeper to pacers,seen him take some brilliant catches last series vs sa 

[Gollum]

18 hours ago, putrevus said:

You cannot do it, a keeper no matter how good he is with gloves if he cannot bat is not much use to a team.Saha is a good keeper but he is not head shoulders above most keepers.

 

I would take De Kock and Bairstow before him in any conditions.

Wrong. Keeper's primary job is to keep well. Gilly changed the role but he was a freak. If Saha scores at an average of even under 20, no problem. That is just 30 short of Kohli. But if he drops 2 catches per innings, he may cost us 200 runs over the course of the match. Remember Parthiv in Aus 2003-04 or even in the 2016 Eng series, how much pressure he put on our bowlers with his clumsy keeping. Even a Bradman can't compensate for such poor keeping. We are lucky to have the greatest modern day pure keeper in our XI. Wish he had debuted 3-4 years earlier and replaced dhoni.

Edited August 19, 2017 by sourab10forever

[kunal_171183]

His temperament would be tested again in the Proteas series and in England where the ball darts around consistently, when you are expecting one out of 4 balls to be left by the batsman, that's where his concentration would be tested...At times he would have to cover up for some messy slip cordon performances. We have to go in with a settled slip cordon. Ashwin & Rahane have been superb in the slips, but Virat has been quite sloppy to be honest, unless he buckles up, there will be added pressure on Saha....

[express bowling]

-

Edited August 19, 2017 by express bowling

[sandeep]

15 hours ago, Khota said:

Pure keeping DeKock is pretty good too.

You think QDK can match Saha's proficiency keeping to spin?  I seriously doubt it.  QDK is good and a much better batsman - but at best, he maybe edges Saha just barely in terms of keeping to pace - and I don't think he does, but that's about the most you can claim - while in the spin department the gap is huge.  

[sandeep]

2 hours ago, Stumped said:

Pretty sure in the 2 tests Saha played he missed almost as many opportunities as Bairstow did in the entire 5 match series...

 

Similarly I can't remember many errors at all in Bangladesh although I can't remember that series as well. Would be happy to look through for you later.

Stumpy - Saha missed one regulation chance in the test series aganst England - in the test that he injured his quad.   Injury was serious enough that he had to miss the rest of the series - You are right in that the England and Indian 'keepers were about equally good (or bad) for the rest of the series.  But crucially the Indian 'keeper was Parthiv Patel.  One of the worst keepers India has ever produced.  He's quite similar to Bairstow in that he's quite a handy batsman to have in a test XI.  But ordinary behind the stumps.  

 

Not your fault for being unaware of Saha's quality - you obviously won't be watching much of Indian test cricket outside of the England series - where Saha didn't really play.  

[sandeep]

14 hours ago, Stumped said:

Saying Bairstow was poor in Asia is pretty harsh. Can't remember the Bangladesh series but head to head in the India series he out-kept Saha and Parthiv (alright, outdoing Parthiv isn't particularly hard...) on his first trip to Asia with the gloves.

 

Started of mediocre with the gloves but has come on massively in the last 1-2 years. Very similar path to Matt Prior really.

Bairstow has improved and did well in his India tour to exceed expectations - but those expectations were quite low - I remember a lot of talk about Bairstow by England fans and analysts about question marks regarding his keeping especially when discussing the inclusion of Jos Buttler.  Ultimately Jos played as a batter and both did decent overall, but the best you can say about Bairstow's keeping in India was that he wasn't horrible, and did OK.   Those who have actually watched Saha in action as a keeper - on pitches like the recent SL test, or the Australia series etc will know that the guy is legit class behind the stumps.  Bairstow himself in his dreams wouldn't claim being anywhere near as good.