‘Flexible’ Saha ready to bat at any position

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Nov 22

A ‘FLEXIBLE’ wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha says, he is comfortable to bat at any position according to the demand of the game.
Speaking to mediapersons ahead of India’s second Test against Sri Lanka, Saha said it doesn’t make any difference if he bats at No 6 or 7 or 8.
In the opening Test at Kolkata Saha batted at No 7 and 8 in both the innings but the batsman had no complaints about his changing batting order.
Saha said the No 6 six slot is a flexible one depending on the conditions.
“It’s not that I always bat at No 7 (or No 8) as I have batted at No 6 also. We (along with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja) are being rotated as batting position depends on strength of the opposition bowlers. Favourable conditions determine the slots whether it is Nos 6, 7 or 8. It can be any position as per the team management’s call,” Saha said.
Asked about India’s morale after a fantastic comeback in the last match despite struggling for the first two days, Saha said, “The team’s morale was fantastic even though we couldn’t bat as per expectation in the first innings. But we made a good comeback in the second innings. Shikhar (Dhawan), (KL) Rahul and Virat (Kohli) batted well and when you get them seven down for less than 100, it automatically boosts your morale.”
But the wicketkeeper felt had they got a few more overs and time the match would have been won. But at the same time he said India wanted to make it sure they did not lose the match.
“May be with a bit more time at our disposal, we could have won. We tried hard but initially, if we could have got the first few decisions quickly, it could have been different. But time was also a constraint as we first wanted to be safe and set a score that was not easily gettable and then attack. That was our gameplan so that bowlers would go all out.”
The wicketkeeper-batsman was of the view that to win a Test match contribution from all was needed. “You can only win Test matches by taking 20 wickets so preference is always given to bowlers. You need contribution from everyone —myself, Ashwin and Jadeja along with lower order.”
Asked whether the next month’s South Africa tour is at the back of Indian team’s mind, Saha said they were taking one match at a time. “I always believe in match by match preparation. The team is also thinking on the same lines. Right now we are planning for the match against Lanka. Yes the SA series is there at the back of our minds but when you win a Test match, you take that 
confidence into the next game and that’s what we are trying to do. We are 
taking it match by match and our main aim is to concentrate on the next match,” Saha said.