Wriddhiman Saha

Wriddhiman Saha is a cricketer who represents India at international level and Bengal in Indian domestic cricket. Born on 24 October 1984, Saha is a wicket-keeper and a right-hand batsman. The man from Bengal is the current first-choice wicketkeeper in the Indian Test team, having taken over the gloves after the retirement of MS Dhoni.

He is mostly picked as a wicket-keeper and is a veteran in the test format. He now serves as the Gujarat Titans' wicketkeeper in the IPL and the first-class captain of the Tripura Cricket Team. He was the very first player in the Indian Premier League history to score a century in a final.

Wriddhiman Saha: Along the Years

Wriddhiman Saha Records

• Highest partnership for the sixth wicket in Ranji Trophy and the third highest in Indian first-class cricket, with a stand for 417 runs

• First cricketer to score a century in an Indian Premier League final

• Scored 362 runs and was a key player in the KXIP run to the finals in the IPL

• In January 2018, Saha became the first wicket-keeper for India to take ten catches in a single Test against South Africa

Wriddhiman Saha Awards and Accolades

• Named as the Test Player of the Year by the BCCI in 2016

Wriddhiman Saha Career

Wriddhiman Saha is an Indian cricketer who plays for the national cricket team. He is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman who specialises in the test format for India. He now serves as the Gujarat Titans' wicketkeeper in the IPL and the first-class captain of the Tripura Cricket Team. He was the first player in the Indian Premier League history to score a century in the IPL final.

In February 2010, Saha made his debut as a batsman in Test cricket. While on a Caribbean tour, he made his first century in Test cricket at St. Lucia. In the third series, he won the man of the match award.

Wriddhiman Saha Domestic Career

Wriddhiman Saha made his way through the ranks in Bengal cricket, playing for the Under-19 and Under-22 teams before being called up for first-class cricket. Saha made his debut in the Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad in the 2006-07 season after regular wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta signed up with the Indian Cricket League.

He scored an unbeaten 111 and became the 15th Bengal player to score a century on his debut. He has represented East Zone in the national zonal competitions on multiple occasions. Saha managed 318 runs in five games in the 2009-10 Ranji season.

Saha was appointed to the India A team for three limited-overs matches against the Israel Invitational XI, where he was chosen based on his performance in the Indian Premier League. India A won the series 3–0. Saha struck an unbeaten 85 in the third match, as India pursued 235.

Saha also holds the record for the fastest century in domestic cricket. In 2018, he scored 102 runs off just 20 balls at a strike rate of 510, with four fours and fourteen sixes.

Saha also has experience with KT, having joined in 2011 for the WBC League. He led the team from 2011 until 2013. KT earned their second title in 2012 under his leadership. In WBC 2015, he scored two centuries.

He achieved two centuries and four half-centuries in the WBC 2015 after KT retained him in the WBC Mega Auction. In the 65 over WBC League in 2017, he achieved his highest score ever in LA, 154 (118). He scored 150 (123) against CBST in the Mumbai WBC of 2021. 54 (18) was his fastest 50 in the WBC.

Wriddhiman Saha IPL Career

On the back of impressive performances in the domestic circuit, Saha got to don the golden-black jersey of Kolkata Knight Riders for the first three seasons of the IPL.

In the 2014 IPL Auction Saha was purchased by Kings XI Punjab as a specialist wicketkeeper. In the tournament Saha not only took some good catches but also contributed with the bat. He made 362 runs at an average of 32.90 and a strike rate of 145.38. Perhaps the best inning of Saha's career came in the IPL Final against his former team Kolkata Knight Riders. Saha became the first player to score a hundred in an IPL final when he made an unbeaten 115 runs from 55 balls, including 10 fours and 8 sixes. However, his hundred was overshadowed by Manish Pandey's brilliance and Kings XI Punjab couldn't lift the IPL trophy. In December 2018, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 1.2 crores in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League. He played in the 2020 season with the same franchise.

He only appeared in four games during the 2020 season, but he scored 214 runs at an average of over 70, including two outstanding half centuries as Sunrisers Hyderabad's opener. Playing in nine games during the 2021 season, he scored 131 runs with a strike rate of 93.57 and an average of 14.55. Sunrisers Hyderabad released him before the 2022 Indian Premier League auction. The Gujarat Titans purchased him at the Indian Premier League 2022 auction in February of that year.

Wriddhiman had a decent season in the 2023 IPL for the Gujarat Titans. He played 17 matches in the season and scored 371 runs with an average of 23.19, with his highest score being 81. He had a dismal season in the latest IPL season in 2024 where he appeared in 9 matches and scored just 136 runs.

Wriddhiman Saha International Career

He debuted in the Indian squad and made his debut in December 2023 against South Africa in an ODI. He received his first Test call-up for the five-game home series against England at the beginning of 2023.

Wriddhiman Saha ODI Career

Wriddhiman Saha made his ODI debut against New Zealand on 28 November 2010 in Guwahati. Batting first, India piled on 276 runs with Virat Kohli scoring a blistering century. Saha came down the order but could only manage 5 runs before being caught off Andy McKay's bowling. Saha never really got the long rope in ODIs as MS Dhoni continued to don the wicketkeeper batsman's role.

Wriddhiman Saha Test Career

Saha made his Test debut against South Africa at Nagpur in 2010, as a pure batsman. He was in the squad as the backup ‘keeper but a freak injury to Rohit Sharma in the warmup meant that Saha had to be drafted in.

He failed to score in the first innings but scored 36 in the second innings. facing the second most number of balls in that innings (150) as India hoped to salvage a dire situation, but eventually stumbled to an innings defeat. India lost the Test and Saha was dropped from the squad for the second Test which India subsequently won to level the two-match series.

Saha's second Test appearance - against Australia in Adelaide in January 2012 - was also somewhat accidental, a result of MS Dhoni's suspension due to a slow over rate.

He also toured South Africa in December 2013, New Zealand in February 2014 and England in July 2014 as part of the test squad but did not get a game.

Saha scored his maiden Test century at St. Lucia on the tour of the Caribbean; on that occasion, India, having been put into bat, were at 126/5. Saha, combined with Ashwin, had a long partnership. India went on to win the Test. He has since added two more centuries and his batting average has more than doubled. In the first test against West Indies, Saha became the third wicket-keeper in Indian cricket history to feature in six dismissals in a test innings. He also won the Man of the Match award in the second Test against New Zealand at Kolkata in 2016, by becoming only the third Indian wicket-keeper to score half-centuries in both the innings of a Test match.

In 2017, Saha became the first Indian wicket-keeper to score centuries in home as well as outside Asia.

In 2018, Saha made history by being the first Indian wicketkeeper to grab ten catches in a single Test against South Africa. He later had an injury during the series and was unable to play in the final match . India was defeated 2–1 in that series. He competed in the 2018 Indian Premier League despite having a hamstring injury that became worse while he was in South Africa. Due to the injury, he was not chosen for any of the five Test match series during India's 2018 tour of England and ultimately Rishabh Pant took his place. Saha was dropped off of the team due to Pant's strong performances, and he was not chosen for India's 2018–19 Australia tour. Later, upon recovery from his injury, he was a member of the India A group that travelled across the West Indies 2019

In the second Test match against Bangladesh in November 2019, Saha made history as the fifth Indian wicketkeeper to record 100 dismissals in Test cricket. Saha was chosen to start as India's first-choice wicketkeeper for the two-match test series against New Zealand in November 2021. Saha was praised by critics for his undefeated 61 runs in the second innings of the match, despite having suffered a neck injury during the first test. His 2018 Test match against England (200 from 221 balls) and ODI match against Sri Lanka (148 from 123 balls) both reinforced his trustworthiness as a Test player.

Wriddhiman Saha T20I Career

Wriddhiman Saha has not played any T20I match for India as of August 2024.

Wriddhiman Saha Captaincy

Wriddhiman Saha was chosen as the first class captain of Tripura Cricket Team in domestic cricket in 2023.

Wriddhiman Saha Under-19 Career

Saha became widely known because of his age-group cricket career. Saha eventually had the opportunity to play for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy after his impressive performances at the U-19 and U-22 levels. He joined the Bengal team in 2007 as a replacement for the experienced Deep Dasgupta. Against Hyderabad, he made an exceptional century on his first-class debut. He didn't play much with the bat for the remainder of the competition, but he made an impression on the scouts, and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) selected him for the Indian Premier League's first season.

Wriddhiman Saha Family

Wriddhiman Saha was born on 24 October 1984 in Siliguri, West Bengal to Prasanta Saha and Maitrayee Saha. Saha's father used to work in the West Bengal State Electricity Board. He is married to Romi Saha since 2011 and the couple together have a daughter named Avni, born in 2013.

Wriddhiman Saha Net Worth

Wriddhiman Saha's projected net worth as of 2024 is INR 66 crore, or $8 million. IPL and domestic cricket are Wriddiman Saha's main sources of income.

The Gujarat Titans signed Saha for an IPL 2022 salary of Rs 1.9 crore. According to Moneyball, he has made a total of Rs 229,400,000 from the IPL during his 2008 debut season.

Wriddhiman Saha House

Saha possesses a lavish property in Kolkata where he lives with his wife and two children in addition to his family home in Siliguri.

Wriddhiman Saha Cars

Wriddhiman Saha owns some of the most luxurious brands when it comes to cars. It includes the likes of Audi, Nissan, and Renault.