Curious case of Wriddhiman Saha

As the three wise men of Indian cricket met on Wednesday to pick the squad for three of the five-Test series against England, they were apparently under the impression that regular wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha is unavailable due to a thumb injury he sustained during the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

It took a few more hours after the selection meeting was over to discover that Saha's injury is much more serious and career threatening than what was earlier imagined.

The 33-year-old is now struck with a shoulder injury, one that could require surgery.

"This is a bizarre case where none of the selectors were aware of the real cause of his (Saha) injury when the team was picked for the first three Tests," a senior BCCI official said.

"He has a serious shoulder injury and whether or not he needs a surgery would be decided in a week's time after a few more medical scans," added the official.

If Saha undergoes the knife, then it's unlikely that he will be fit even for the tour of Australia at the end of the year. "If he undergoes surgery, then he will certainly take a long time to come back," the official said.

Saha's injury woes have worsened while he was being attended to by highly professional sports medicine staff at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) based in Bengaluru.

"It is a curious case of NCA's goof-up. He has been attended to by the NCA physio. While the thumb has healed, the shoulder injury has been aggravated," the official said.

"It could be a case of the injury point in the shoulder going numb due to lack of mobility," he added.

According to the official, the Bengal wicketkeeper had long recovered from the thumb injury he suffered while playing the Qualifier 2 for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on May 25.

"Saha sustained a minor shoulder injury during the tour of South Africa while taking a catch. But he had to leave the tour (after the first Test) after suffering a hamstring injury and not because of the shoulder trouble.

"Since a wicketkeeper doesn't need to throw from the deep, Saha played with that shoulder niggle during the IPL and then went to the NCA for rehabilitation before the England tour," the official said.

"Now we know that it was at the NCA that he aggravated his injury under the watchful eyes of the physio there," he added.

The physio in question, who has been part of Team India in the past, has in this case failed to report the actual extent of Saha's injury to the convenor of the selection committee – Amitabh Choudhary – before the meeting.
It has been a convention that the convenor of selection committee needs to be updated with all relevant information before the selection committee meeting.

Saha’s injury woes: A timeline

January: After playing the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town, Saha suffers an upper left hamstring tendon injury during training on January 11. He is sent back home and is replaced by Parthiv Patel in the playing XI for the second Test in Centurion

May: Fit in time for the IPL season, Saha injures his right thumb having being struck by a bouncer during the Qualifier 2 for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on May 25. This, after missing six games for his franchise throughout the season due to a shoulder niggle.

June: Saha stares at an estimated recovery period of five to six weeks from the thumb injury, putting him in doubt for the one-off Afghanistan Test in Bengaluru on June 14 but giving him enough time to be fit for England series. “... the management has decided to give him adequate rest before the start of the England Test series,” a BCCI release said. On June 2 itself,  his participation in the Afghanistan Test is ruled out and Dinesh Karthik is picked as replacement.

July: Recuperating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, there is no official word from the BCCI about Saha’s recovery from the thumb injury. As BCCI names the squad for the first three of the five Tests against England on Wednesday, Saha’s name doesn’t figure in it. It now emerges that Saha will be out for at least two months with a shoulder injury. A surgery will even keep him out for longer than that.