Calm and composed in demeanour, yet sharp and agile on the field, WriddhimanSaha is one of the not-so-flamboyant batsmen who has the ability to take on the opposition with his skill and great foot movement.

It was one such night at the Wankhede Stadium which was packed to capacity, when the wicket-keeper batsman who was given the opportunity to open the innings, turned out in the best of form.Saha embraced this opportunity to the fullest as he batted through the Kings XI Punjab innings and scored an unbeaten 93 which was studded with eleven 4s and three 6s.

Even though the opener batted with explosive batsmenlike Martin Guptill, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh &Axar Patel, he wasat his cool best and kept piling runs as and when he found the opportunity.

Saha’s performance earned him the Man of the Match award as well as a few words of praise from his captain at the end of the match. For Saha to get the reward just shows the class of him.

We at iplt20.com caught up with the man of the moment and found out more about his innings, his acrobatic fielding, inputs to the bowlers during the game and more…

Excerpts:

You have never opened before for KXIP this season. Tell us about opening the innings today and when did you find out about it?

When I came in for the pre-match warm-up, I wasn’t aware of the fact that I would be opening the innings today. After I went in to the dressing room, Virender Sehwag sent across a message to me saying I will be opening the innings today and that is when I got to know. I wasn’t expecting it since I have been batting in the middle-order this season, but I went out there, played a few shots, rotated the strike and fortunately got the runs on the boar

When you were batting in the middle-order, you were not able to express yourself fully and today when you got the opportunity, it looked like the batting flare was back and it was all falling in place for you. Thoughts.

When you are batting in the middle-order, it takes time to open up and play the shots that you want to go for. If there is a crunch situation, there is pressure on the batsman, but if you open the innings you can settle in, play freely and make good use of the batting powerplay.

We have seen with KXIP in the past when two three players have performed, but have not clicked as a unit.But this season the team has upped the ante. Thoughts

In the past two years the team hasn’t performed to its potential and the main reason was that not every member of the team was able to contribute and perform to their capacity. But, this season everybody is chipping in with their performances and we have 14 points on the table now. The team effort as a whole has been the difference this season.

Today the game was at a crucial moment when you took Hardik’s catch. Tell us about that brilliant piece of fielding.

In a T20 match, I’m always mentally ready to pounce on the opportunity of taking a catch. As a wicket-keeper you hardly get 10-12 balls, but whatever I get, I want to make it count for the team. Today it came off at the right time and I contributed to the team’s win.

There are quite a few Indian bowlers in the team and we keep seeing you having a chat with them when they go for runs. Tell us about those conversations that you have out there.

Sometimes what is spoken of during the team meetings, bowlers tend to get distracted once they are going for runs and as wicket-keeper you get a fair idea of what the batsmen are doing and remind the bowlers of their strengths and what has been spoken of in the team meetings. I try and give as much input as possible.