Kolkata: Wriddhiman Saha is not among your favourite cricketers. Media doesn't hype him, though Team India head coach Ravi Shastri regards him as the best wicketkeeper in contemporary cricket. His keeping skills helped him to fulfil the dream to play for India. But he is not a regular face there too. He often faces competition from compatriot Rishabh Pant, who was dropped from India's limited-overs sides for the upcoming Australia tour due to being overweight. But that couldn't undermine Saha's spirit. A fitness freak, Saha is a seasoned fighter who believes in never give up mentality.
On Tuesday, November 3, when his well-measured unbeaten half-century (58 off 45) while sharing massive 151 runs opening wicket partnership with David Warner (85 off 58) knocked Kolkata Knight Riders out of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL), people in Hyderabad and Kolkata took a sigh of relief.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were facing Mumbai Indians a must-win game, chased down a moderate 150 runs target with 10 wickets in hand and 17 balls to spare to ensure their place in the playoffs, much to the delight of their players and fans alike. On the back of this win, they rose to the third position and shattered KKR's hopes.
As KKR missed the playoffs for the second consecutive time, people in Kolkata were expected to be taking a dip in sadness. But to KKR's disbelief, they celebrated the victory of Hyderabad with much fanfare, courtesy to Saha.
It was an outburst of negative emotion. Today's headlines in the Bengali newspapers published from the city best described the feeling of the people. Ei Samay wrote, "Wridhimaner bat a sesh Kolkatar swapno" (Wriddhiman Saha's batting brilliance ruins KKR's IPL hopes), Sangbad Protidin wrote, "Biday Kolkata, playoff a Bangali" (Farewell Kolkata, Saha in playoff) and Aajkal came up with a hard-hitting headline: "Bongosantaner dapote sesh holo Kolkata Knight Riders' swapno" (Kolkata Knight Riders' dream came to an end as the son of Bengal triumphs).
These headlines divulged the sentiment of Bengalis towards KKR, a team which has no player from Bengal though it represents "The City of Joy". It also made it clear that people of Kolkata are not as passionate as Chennai Super Kings or Mumbai Indians fans about KKR. We have seen how a resident of Cuddalore, Gopi Krishnan painted his house in Yellow, the colour of CSK jersey, and embossed various avatars of his idol MS Dhoni on the walls.
But why so?
To be precise there is more than one reason which resulted in this negative feeling towards Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta owned Kolkata Knight Riders. Since 2008, when the first edition of IPL was played, KKR didn't do anything special to woo the local fans. In the last 13 years, KKR management never took up initiatives to penetrate the minds of residents of Kolkata nor their commercials have any Bengali touch. This season CSK performed very badly losing eight matches. But not a single CSK fan questioned or showed anger at their "Thala" MS Dhoni for the failure. They are loyal to their team.
Such things in Kolkata can only be seen in football among the supporters of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Though the quality of football declined over the last couple of decades, fans never turned their back to their favourite clubs. They are passionate, can do anything for the Maroon and Green and Red and Gold. KKR, on the other hand, play at the Eden Gardens, which overlooks the Mohun Bagan and East Bengal tents at the Maidan, never took a leaf out of their books.
When Mohun Bagan and East Bengal function from their respective Maidan tents, KKR, which represent Kolkata, don't have an office in the city. Its headquarters is in Mumbai. It will not be wrong to say that every year KKR owners and officials land in Kolkata to have some fun and enjoy special treatment from the Mamata Banerjee government.
Another reason, probably the most reasonable argument that often pops up at every tea stall that has hurt KKR's bid to embrace fans, is the absence of local players in the team. Nor do they have any former Bengal players in the dugout. It is an indirect dig at Bengal cricket from KKR management; a clear message to its players that they are incapable and ineligible to play for their team. Kolkata has not forgotten how badly the Knights management treated Sourav Ganguly and Manoj Tiwary.
Former Bengal Ranji cricketer Saurasish Lahiri is very vocal about it. He is not happy with the treatment meted out to Bengal players by KKR management. "KKR is playing in Kolkata but they failed to connect with the local people. If they want to engage with people of the city, they must strengthen their engagement. At present, I don't think they have any connection with Kolkata," he said to ETV Bharat.
"Players whoever got chance to play, for example, Saha, Shami, Shahbaz Ahmed, made their mark. If they don't get the opportunity, how will they prove themselves?" Lahiri asked.
Former India cricketer and Bengal Ranji legend Utpal Chatterjee heaped praise on India and Bengal Ranji pacer Mohammed Shami and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha for putting up fantastic performances in the 2020 IPL. At the same time, he alleged that not many Bengal players are getting chances to play IPL, a tournament which offers Indian cricketers chances to play with and against the best of the world and tests their skills.
"Mohammed Shami has performed brilliantly. Since KXIP failed to make it to the playoffs, his season is over. Shami is a star. Good performance is expected of him. But Wriddhiman Saha still has a couple of matches left to prove his ability as a white-ball cricketer. He has already done excellent jobs for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He got limited chances but exploited those opportunities completely. If you scan through his performance in IPL, he didn't perform poorly in the tournament. At present only a few are getting chances. But I think many more players from Bengal deserve a chance to play in IPL," Chatterjee said.
This season while Saha played a big role in uplifting the morale of the cornered SRH by playing blitzkrieg knocks, Mohammed Shami with sheer pace, swing, yorkers and bouncers took a whopping 20 wickets for Kings XI Punjab.
Shah Rukh Khan, the face of KKR and owner of majority share, is the brand ambassador of Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government. But he has done very little for the city and the state. His love for the people of Bengal only limited to tweets and flaunting kisses at the Eden Gardens. His only contribution to Kolkata in the last 13 years is 5000 trees after super cyclone Amphan wreaked havoc on the city. It was ridiculous when Banerjee organised a gala reception for privately owned IPL winning KKR team in 2012 and 2014 spending government money. Why such felicitation for KKR when Bengal's own ramshackle sports infrastructure needs upliftment?
Franchises like CSK and MI played an important role in the development of cricket in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai. They have built academies, run coaching clinics and scouted local talents on a regular basis. So, the question now is what KKR have done for Bengal in all these years? They neither gave the opportunity to local players nor helped in improving the infrastructure of Bengal cricket. They have just maintained a financial understanding with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
In September last, when there was a hullabaloo regarding Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide that took drug trafficking angle, actress Sherlyn Chopra claimed that she has seen the wives of Bollywood stars snorting white powder (cocaine) in the washroom during a post-match party at the Eden Gardens. Surprisingly, KKR didn't counter her claim.
Now, as KKR have been knocked out of the 2020 IPL, thanks to Wriddhiman Saha and David Warner's mindblowing performance, majority of people in Kolkata took a sigh of relief as they got rid of any such future extravaganza at Eden Gardens, that is done on government money.
-- By Sudipta Biswas
