Saha smashes 20-ball ton in local T20 meet

Underlining his potential as a big-hitter days ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL), India's Test wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha on Saturday bludgeoned an unbeaten 20-ball 102 as his team Mohun Bagan beat B.N.R Recreation Club by 10 wickets in J.C. Mukherjee T-20 local cricket tournament here.

Saha, who will be turning out for former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) this season, smashed 14 sixes and four fours to gun down a modest target of 152 in just seven overs at Kalighat ground here.

Saha took just 12 balls to reach 50 and also then during the course of the blitzkrieg also smoked six sixes in an over.

He completed his century in just 20 balls, hitting the winning runs too with a six as Mohun Bagan posted 154/0 in the tournament, organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

Saha started off with a single before going berserk to slam consecutive fours, followed by a six against Abhidipta Chakraborty in the first over.

The right-hander lad had an astonishing strike rate of 510.00 while his opening partner and skipper Subhomoy Das remained unbeaten on 43 off 22 balls.

"I don't know whether this is a record or not. I tried to play different shots and had that in mind ahead of the IPL," Saha told reporters after the match.

"From ball one I could feel the ball was hitting the middle of my bat and so I went for it," the 33-year old added.

Saha does not play white-ball cricket for the country where former captain and talimanic figure Mahendra Singh Dhoni still calls the shots behind the stumps.

Asked if he feels he deserves a place in the One-Day and T20 side as well, Saha said, "It's up to the selectors. My job is to keep performing whenever I get an opportunity.

Saha said he likes to open the innings in T20s but with SRH having mercurial David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan opening the batting, the diminitive stumper added he is ready to fit in anywhere for his team.

"I always like to open the batting in T20s. But we have Warner and Shikhar there so I am ready to bat anywhere for my team," he said.

Earlier, Saha also took four catches and effected one run out as B.N.R managed 151/7 in 20 overs.

--IANS

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