Veteran wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha is considering quitting Bengal cricket after joining the Ranji Trophy squad. According to news agency PTI, the 37-year-old is upset with the behavior of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and has sought a no objection certificate (NOC) from the board to leave his home team. According to sources close to Saha, the 37-year-old cricketer withdrew from the league stage of Ranji citing “personal reasons”. Now he was not contacted before he was named in the squad before the knock out stage.
A source in the know of the matter said that upset over the development, Saha spoke to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya and sought NOC to leave Bengal. According to PTI sources said, “He is no longer interested in playing for Bengal and has sought NOC. He is very angry with a CAB functionary (Joint Secretary Debabrata Das) who has apparently questioned his commitment. He publicly apologizes.
Now speaking to Sportstar, Saha’s wife Romi Mitra said that Saha was hurt by the comments of a CAB officer (Devbrata Das) who publicly questioned his commitment in the media during the group stage of Ranji Trophy. Incidentally, this was the time when Saha made the WhatsApp chat with a senior journalist public. He had also revealed that the head coach of Team India had personally asked him to retire from international cricket.
Romi said, “A few months back when Riddhi decided to skip the Ranji Trophy league stage due to personal reasons, a CAB official gave a statement to the media questioning her commitment. Being a senior player who has given so much to Bengal cricket, such statements hurt Riddhi.
Romi further said, “After the team announcement last night, he spoke to Dalmiya today and discussed the whole matter. The CAB president asked him to reconsider and play the knockouts, but Riddhi told him that he was not in a position to play for Bengal again, as questions were raised about his commitment. The CAB kept silence on the issue and late in the evening President Dalmiya issued a statement. He said, “Any discussion that takes place between a player and an organization should remain between that player and the organisation. I would like to refrain from making any comments at this time.”