Gollum Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Saha didn't hold back Pant. Not his decision, blame the TM. Anyway he also became a regular a bit late due to Dhoni. Lord 1 Link to comment
NameGoesHere Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Played 40 Tests over around a decade. With his keeping skills, had he been born in an earlier era, he could easily have doubled that number. Like silk behind the wickets, superb talent. One of my favourite players for his amazing skills and his lack of affectation. Gollum 1 Link to comment
Number Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) Captains could save one slip fielder with him. Edited February 2 by Number Gollum, BacktoCricaddict, nevada and 1 other 1 3 Link to comment
Gollum Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Just now, Number said: Could save one slip fielder with him. Have seen him dive and take catches in FSL, SP with spinners operating. Pity we haven't chronicled his great keeping feats. Imagine if he were Aussie or English, those YT videos would have millions of views. Number 1 Link to comment
Gollum Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Insult to compare Bharat with Saha. Even if you treat Bharat as pure keeper, I have never been impressed by his glove skills. Heck if we had a competent keeper in BGT 4th test 2023, we would have forced a win even on that patta. Link to comment
Gollum Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Saha also played a few memorable IPL knocks, 70/80 scores at 200 SR, especially for SRH even at an old age. In 2020-22 editions he would win 1-2 matches per season with his high impact PP batting. Never bothered about milestones, else would have scored couple of 100s as well. His 100 in an IPL final for Punjab (2014?) was special. Should have been given a few T20I matches as well, where Dhoni was a liability and also Rahane opened for us in 2 consecutive WT20s (2014, 16). nevada 1 Link to comment
Bigg Brother Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Bro almost won Punjab their first IPL title if not for that mfer Piyush Chawla.. Gollum 1 Link to comment
Gollum Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Bigg Brother said: Bro almost won Punjab their first IPL title if not for that mfer Piyush Chawla.. Saw the scorecard. Walked in at 2/30 after 5 overs, Sehwag and Bailey dismissed cheaply. #4 Saha scored 115 of 55 balls, ripped apart peak chucking version of Sunil Narine, team total 199. Sehwag, Bailey, Maxwell, Miller combined got 9 runs in 14 balls. One man show. Prime candidate for greatest IPL knock of all time, surely? At least in a final. Edited February 2 by Gollum Bigg Brother, deepdynamo and nevada 1 2 Link to comment
Lord Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 56 minutes ago, Bigg Brother said: Bro almost won Punjab their first IPL title if not for that mfer Piyush Chawla.. yeah I will always remember that knock Link to comment
Lord Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 6 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said: Never saw the hype about Saha. He held back Pant for couple of years. His batting was pathetic and he belonged to the wkt keepers we used to see in 90s. A good Ranji journeyman like KS Bharat but not meant for intl level. He was brilliant keeper and adequate batsman. Should have played lot more in Dhoni times in SENA. Dhoni did not even go for catches unlike they came near him. Not as if he was great batter in SENA too. Link to comment
maniac Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 20 hours ago, Gollum said: Used to get lots of flak/ridicule for being a Saha fan on ICF few years back, was a lone supporter/defender of him. @maniac garu will understand. A solution for everything Gollum, Lord and nevada 1 2 Link to comment
Ajju Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Thala >> Saha in keeping Thala like light Link to comment
Lord Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 Just now, Ajju said: Thala >> Saha in keeping Thala like light lights went out vs pacers Link to comment
nevada Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Amazing keeper and unselfish player. A role model for younger players to emulate - hardworking, humble and sincere in his efforts despite knowing his place in the team is uncertain. Link to comment
Ultimate_Game Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 4 hours ago, Lord said: He was brilliant keeper and adequate batsman. Should have played lot more in Dhoni times in SENA. Dhoni did not even go for catches unlike they came near him. Not as if he was great batter in SENA too. Saha is made to be some out of this world wkt keeper and I recall seeing him drop a few. Nope, I wouldn't pick him ahead of anyone. I remember the 2014 Adelaide Test where all he had to do was stick around on a flattish wkt and played a braindead shot. Don't recall even a half decent innings from him Away from home. His keeping wasn't that of an improvement while batting was like a tailender. Link to comment
Ultimate_Game Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 7 hours ago, Gollum said: Scored 3 100s, 2 of them clutch (WI 2016 and Ranchi BGT). Won us a test against NZ with the bat. More clutch knocks especially at home against RSA, Aus. Bharat is a nobody compared to Saha. Just his bad luck that he got sandwiched between Dhoni and Pant eras. Anyway as a pure keeper he was legendary. Just because he was a poor batter, folks make him a great wkt keeper. He wasn't. In fact he could've been replaced by other domestic wkt keepers without much of a drop off. Nowhere close to Dhoni or Pant and same category as Mongia, Ajay Ratra and the likes. Link to comment
Lord Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 15 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said: Just because he was a poor batter, folks make him a great wkt keeper. He wasn't. In fact he could've been replaced by other domestic wkt keepers without much of a drop off. Nowhere close to Dhoni or Pant and same category as Mongia, Ajay Ratra and the likes. Eh? Can you show me Dhoni taking catches off pacers like this https://youtu.be/g2aI5fF1y7c Link to comment
Gollum Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 (edited) 16 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said: Just because he was a poor batter, folks make him a great wkt keeper. He wasn't. In fact he could've been replaced by other domestic wkt keepers without much of a drop off. Nowhere close to Dhoni or Pant and same category as Mongia, Ajay Ratra and the likes. I followed tests closely at that time, even kept a count in one of the threads. He dropped 4-5 catches in some 20 odd tests when I was doing that exercise, 2-3 of them in that 2016 Rajkot against England where he had a shoulder injury/dislocation. Parthiv dropped more catches in one innings (2017-18 RSA 2nd test, 2016 Chennai or Mumbai test) than what Saha did in a year or something like that, I even remember those posts. He was a brilliant keeper, not just that, one of the greatest that ever was. His peers, past legends have said the same...and it's not like he had some PR working for him. As a batsman not close to Dhoni/Pant, but I am talking about glovework. Ratra was unknown, Mongia was good against spin, untested against pace. If you watch Ashwin's YT videos , on more than one occasion he has spoken about Saha's keeping in glowing terms, and keeping to guys like Ashwin/Jadeja on Indian tracks is probably the toughest challenge for any keeper, more than turn due to variable bounce. Bharat was talked as a great glovesman but he wasn't, Saha justified that tag. Edited February 3 by Gollum Link to comment
Gollum Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 59 minutes ago, Lord said: Eh? Can you show me Dhoni taking catches off pacers like this https://youtu.be/g2aI5fF1y7c Dhoni was an absolutely disaster against pace. Never went for tough catches, didn't like when pacers hit his gloves hard. Even in 2019 SF, nobody talks about his drop of Ross Taylor, PR covers for him nicely. Pant gets wrong footed so often, makes regulation takes seem much tougher because of his footwork......but still he is a big upgrade over Dhoni and keeps learning/improving, and not a coward/quitter. Lord 1 Link to comment
Lord Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 1 minute ago, Gollum said: Dhoni was an absolutely disaster against pace. Never went for tough catches, didn't like when pacers hit his gloves hard. Even in 2019 SF, nobody talks about his drop of Ross Taylor, PR covers for him nicely. Pant gets wrong footed so often, makes regulation takes seem much tougher because of his footwork......but still he is a big upgrade over Dhoni and keeps learning/improving, and not a coward/quitter. Yes exactly. Pant is an upgrade over Saha, but Dhoni was poor keeper to pace in SENA and not much of a great bat either. Lets not forget Saha saved us with a ton in WI. Dhoni averages 22 there. infact he doesnt have a ton in SENA+WI. Saha could have been more useful there. But catching is not even considered nowadays Gollum 1 Link to comment
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