Much has been spoken about Wriddhiman Saha and his wicket-keeping abilities with some of the Indian cricketing fraternities even rating him higher than the World Cup-winning Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. While the 32-year-old doesn't actually have the quickest of reflexes, he seems to have learnt a lesson or two in the run-out department from the skipper of the limited overs format.
Also read: SK Play of the Day: MS Dhoni's street-smart run-out trumps Ross Taylor
It was the 21st over of the England innings and Ravindra Jadeja, as usual, was quickly running through his over. After a couple of flighted deliveries, the left-armer bowled a back of a length delivery to Joe Root. The batsman was hurried on by the pace but did well to push it towards the mid-wicket region.
Jayant Yadav went chasing after the ball and slid horizontally to pick the ball up and throw it to the striker's end. The debutant wasted no time in getting rid of the ball as he executed the slide and the throw in a single motion. Haseeb Hameed and Root were caught up in a terrible mix-up due to a lack of understanding.
Watch how Saha did a Dhoni in the video below.
Root, who was initially looking for a second, bailed out after realising that the fielder had gotten rid of the ball. However, Hameed was racing towards the other end with his head down in search of the second run. He was half-way down the pitch before Root asked him to return and the youngster couldn't believe his luck for he slipped while turning back. Saha, who sensed the opportunity of a run-out, took a couple of steps forward to collect the throw and back-flipped the ball onto the stump.
A dive from the young batsman didn't do any good as the innovative Saha had got his man already. The wicket-keeper's presence of mind to back-flip the ball onto the stumps reminded the fans of Dhoni's street smart technique.
The man from Ranchi did a similar, if not better, act during the fourth ODI against the New Zealand cricket team to dismiss Ross Taylor. Though it wasn't the first time that he had come up with something unusual on the field, the cricketing fraternities were awestruck by his skills.
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra took to his Twitter handle to relate the two instances.
Also read: SK Play of the day: Dhoni's affair with unconventional stumping continues as he stumps Luke Ronchi
While one can relate the unconventional skills of wicketkeeping with Dhoni, Saha's effort in the second Test at Vizag definitely came as a surprise for the fans.
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