Rahul Dravid clears the air over the Wriddhiman Saha saga!

What is happening in the Indian red ball squad is very rare and we hope that it doesn’t happen in the future. Ever since Rahul Dravid came into the national set-up, there has been nothing but chaos and being a new member in the family, Coach Rahul has no role in it. First, Ajinkya Rahane was dropped as the vice captain of the side, then Virat Kohli relinquished his test captaincy and now some of the senior players in the squad like Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha and Ishant Sharma have been dropped from the team. The board asked Pujara and Rahane to play domestic cricket and make their comeback but if Saha’s words are to be believed then Rahul Dravid apparently asked the wicket-keeper batsman to retire from test cricket.

After the team selection, Wriddhiman in an interview slammed Sourav Ganguly, the President of the board and head coach Rahul Dravid. He called them out for not being a part of the test squad. He said, “After scoring 61 against New Zealand at Kanpur, Dadi (Ganguly) congratulated me over WhatsApp and mentioned, ‘As long as I’m here (Board President), you would be in the team’. Such a message from the Board President really boosted my confidence. What I’m struggling to understand is how things have changed so fast”.

When it comes to Rahul Dravid, the conversation that Dravid had with him is the problem. However, after the series win against the West Indies, the head coach of the national team cleared the air and he said, “I'm not hurt at all. I have a deep respect for Saha and his achievements and contributions to Indian cricket. My conversation with him actually came from that place, from my respect for him. He deserved honesty and clarity. I didn't want him to hear about it from the media”.

The coach added, “These are conversations I constantly have with players. I'm not hurt about it at all because I don't expect players to always like all the messages or agree with everything I have to say about them. That's not how it works. When you have difficult conversations with people, sometimes you have to have them with players, you don't always expect them to agree with you or like you. But that doesn't mean you brush it under the carpet and don't have the conversations. I truly believe in having those conversations”.

This is a class act from Rahul Dravid and at 37; he is not getting any better. It was a great innings and truly showed his class when he bailed team India against New Zealand at Kanpur. However, what he needs to understand is that most of the time he fails to score runs with the bat and if India grooms a younger keeper, it will actually help the team in the longer run.

Dravid also said, “Before every playing XI is picked, even now, either Rohit or me will speak to the guys not playing, and be open to answering questions on why they are not playing and what are the reasons of a particular XI that might play. It's natural for players at times to get upset and feel hurt, but I just feel that because of the respect I have for them, my team deserved clarity and honesty and that's all I was trying to convey”.

He added, “We have only three Tests this year and with Rishabh Pant having established himself as our No. 1 choice wicketkeeper, we were looking to groom a younger wicketkeeper. That was it. This doesn't change my feelings or respect for Wriddhi or his contribution”.

Couple of days back, the wicket-keeper batsman also shared a screenshot on Twitter where a journalist threatened him. Ever since that happened, he has been receiving a lot of support from the cricket community. Former players like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Harbajan Singh and his former coach Ravi Shastri have tweeted in favour of the player and Shastri asked the board president to intervene and give Saha the justice he deserves.

The Board has listened to everything that has been happening and has issued an investigation. The Journalist who threatened Saha over WhatsApp regarding a possible interview deserves a punishment and the board needs to make sure that the players are protected from these kinds of people.