Revealed! Why Rahul Dravid asked Wriddhiman Saha to consider retirement?
Rahul Dravid (Image source: Twitter)
It was given that Rahul Dravid will be brutally honest with the players when he was appointed as the head coach. In recent developments, it was revealed that he had asked Wriddhiman Saha to consider retirement as Rishabh Pant will be the first choice keeper in the team and the team want to groom a young keeper as the second option. Dravid has now opened up on this subject and said he is ‘not hurt’ by Saha revealing this confidential conversation.
Saha was recently dropped from the Indian Test squad for the series against Sri Lanka. Pant is the main wicket-keeper in the team, while KS Bharat has been selected to replace Saha as the second option for wicket-keeping.
“I’m actually not hurt at all. I have deep respect for Wriddhi and his achievements and his contribution to Indian cricket. My conversation came from that place. I think he deserved honesty and clarity,” Dravid said as quoted by Sports NDTV.
Dravid has confirmed that he will continue having these difficult conversations, adding that he doesn’t expect the players to agree with anything he says. “It’s about conversations I constantly have with players. I don’t expect players to always agree with everything I say about them. That’s not how it works. You can have difficult conversations with the players, but that doesn’t mean you brush it under the carpet and don’t have the conversations.
“I always believe in having those conversations before every playing XI is picked and be open to questions such as why they are not playing. It’s natural for players to get upset and feel hurt.”
Dravid explained that the reason behind him asking Saha to retire. He revealed that Rishabh Pant is the first-choice wicket-keeper in the team and the management want to groom a young wicketkeeper thus Saha will not be in scheme of things which is why he asked Saha to consider retirement.
“I was just trying to convey that with RP (Pant) having established himself as our No.1 wicketkeeper-batsman, the idea was to say that we are looking to groom a younger wicketkeeper (KS Bharat). This doesn’t change my feelings or respect for Wriddhi.
“Easiest thing for me is to not have those conversations and not speak to players about it. That’s not what I am going to do.
“But at some stage, I hope they respect the fact that I was able to front up and have those conversations.”
