Injured India wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha will take at least three to four months as he tries to regain full fitness.
Saha has been sidelined since the latter stages of the Indian Premier League when he suffered a finger injury. He had earlier suffered a shoulder strain during India’s tour of South Africa. The Bengal-based cricketer has started his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy.
“As per the doctors, it varies from body to body as far as full recovery is concerned. Safe to say, it will take four months,” Saha was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“I have just started the rehab two days back at the NCA, I haven’t been told how long I would need to be here. But yes, a stretch of 3-4 months can take a toll, so I will be given breaks and be with family, come back and resume the rehab, something on these lines,” Saha added.
The BCCI came for a lot of criticism for its handling of Saha’s injury, which despite being detected early wasn’t shown the urgency it deserved.
“When I came for a rehab from the South Africa tour, my shoulder injury was detected, which probably was because of some dive or something I can’t remember. I recovered fully after that. Then came the IPL where I injured my shoulder because of a couple of dives. I injured my thumb after I came back towards the latter stages in the IPL,” he said.
With the long spell out of the team, the position of wicket-keeper has been occupied by the Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant. Saha, though, is unfazed by the competition.
“It is always 3-4 days ahead of a game that I start thinking hard about the game. The thought now is whenever I return, I will try to do my best in the domestic games. I don’t know at what stage of the tournament will I return. It is about day by day work on this shoulder,” he said.