THE TELEGRAPH CALCUTTA 22 XXSE SPORSATTURDAY11FEBRUARY2017

VIRAT’S RECORD 4TH DOUBLE CENTURY

WriddhimanSaha congratulates ViratKohli after the Indian completed his double century in Hyderabad on Friday. (PTI) Was destined to get 100: Saha

Our BUREAU shot (referring to the missed “I value the twohalf-cen- stumping chance by Mush- turies against NewZealand Calcutta: Wriddhiman Saha fiqur Rahim), butViratsaid, morebecause the team needed didn’t regret taking India ‘it’snot aproblem, if you my contribution, needed part- team’sbatting coachSanjay again getachance,hit it’. He nerships and the quality of Bangar’sadvice as he went on always givesyou confidence (NewZealand) bowling was to gethis second Test hundred, whichisahugeplus.” also good. We needed to set a in Hyderabad on Friday. “I would termitluckashe target of around 300, and tak- Saha scored aconfident106 (Mushfiqur) tried butcouldn’t ing all these factors into ac- in India’sfirst innings hit the stump.When he got it count, those twoknocks were in the one-off Test against right secondtime,Iwas inside vital,” Saha said. . Thehosts de- the crease.So, possibly,Iwas He thanked team manage- clared their innings after pil- destined to getahundred and ment and selectors forhaving ing up amassive 687 forsix. that’swhy he couldn’t effect faith in him. Later,India’swicketkeep- thatstumping,” Saha added. “It’sagreat plus forthe play- er-batsman revealed thathe Asked about whyViratdid- ers to knowtheir status within took Bangar’sadvice at tea n’tgofor areviewofhis dis- the team... Because after an in- break and thathelped him missal, Saha, whowas at the jury hiatus,when someone reachthe three-figuremark. other end of the crease,said: “I makes acomeback, if he is “A tthe tea break, Sanjayb- was about to ask Virattocheck, clearly told that‘as and when hai told me,‘youneed 17 runs, buthewas hundred per cent yourecover, youwill be backin so first playwith straight bat convincedthatitwas out. Also, the team,’ the individual gets and scorethose 17 runs and it was the umpire’scall and moremotivated and thatre- then try to hit’. Ahundred is a even if therewas achance of flects in his performance.” special milestone,moresofor the delivery barelytouching me as Ihaveplayedonly20-odd the stumps,itwould have been INDIA Tests.That’swhy Itook the ap- out. Viratdidn’t takeachance 1st innings(Overnight 356/3) proachsuggested by Sanjayb- and savedaDRS forthe team.” V. Kohli lbw b Taijul 204 hai,” Saha said. On an earlier occasion A. Rahane c Miraz b Taijul 82 W. Saha not out 106 TheplayerfromBengal however,Virathad gone fora R. Ashwin c Sarkar b Miraz 34 reached hundred in style hit- reviewand benefited from it. R. Jadeja not out 60 ting asix offspinner Taijul “Viratthought thathewas Extras (lb- 5, w-1, nb-2) 8 Total (6 wickets decl.; 166 overs) 687 Islam. Generallytoo,Saha was out, butItold him thatyou Fall of wickets 4/456, 5/495, 6/569 confident in playing his shots, have probably stretched your Bowling: Taskin 25-2-127-1, Rabbi 19-1- and on one suchoccasion he front foot more. Itold him that 100-0, Sarkar1-0-4-0, Miraz 42-0-165-2, was almost stumped. the impact maybeoutside (the Shakib 24-4-104-0, Taijul47-6-156-3, Sabbir 3-0-10-0, Mahmudullah 5-0-16-0 Speaking about that, Saha off-stump) and the ball had said: “Whoeverbatswith spun sharplyenough to miss BANGLADESH Virat(Kohli), he backs that the legstump.Sohe(Virat) 1st innings batsman. He would always took acall and was saved,” Tamim Iqbal batting 24 suggest us to playour natural Saha recollected. S. Sarkar c Saha b Yadav 15 M. Haque not out 1 game.Hetells us,‘If youfeel Despite it being apretty Extra (lb-1) 1 youcan hit the ball, go forit. fluent knockonFriday, Saha Total (1 wicket; 14 overs) 41 Not thatifyou arenew to the considers the twohalf-cen- Fall of wicket 1/38 Bowling: Kumar 5-2-7-0, Sharma5-0-30-0, crease youhavetodefend’. turies against NewZealand Ashwin 2-1-1-0, Yadav 2-1-2-1 That’s whyItried playing that morevaluable.

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