Wriddhiman Saha has torn a hamstring, forcing him to miss the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2020 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad against the Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. This is the second match in a row Saha has missed because of the injury, having sat out the Eliminator against the Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier.
David Warner, the Sunrisers captain, confirmed the injury at the toss prior to the Sunday evening game. However, it remains unclear how bad the injury is, as the BCCI has not made any comment on it so far.
The timing of the injury would be a concern for the Indian team management and the national selectors, because Saha has been named in the Indian Test squad for the four-match series in Australia, which is scheduled to begin on December 17 in Adelaide followed by fixtures in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Rishabh Pant is the other wicketkeeping option in the long-format squad.
India have already had to leave out Rohit Sharma (hamstring injury) for the tour, even though he has continued to play for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL after a short layoff, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has a thigh injury. But Ishant Sharma, who had to miss most of the IPL with a muscle tear, is expected to be fit for the Tests in Australia. An earlier BCCI media statement had said that both Rohit and Ishant would be "monitored".
Saha had stretched his groin while batting against the Capitals in an earlier game at IPL 2020, but then played against the Mumbai Indians in the Sunrisers' final league game, where he played a lead role in a crucial win. He has had a good time with the bat on the few occasions he has played this season, scoring 30 in 31 balls from the middle order first up against the Kolkata Knight Riders but then blossoming when pushed to the top of the order as the team dropped Jonny Bairstow to accommodate Jason Holder. Saha's scores after that were 87 in 45 balls against the Capitals, 39 in 32 against the Royal Challengers and 58* in 45 against the Mumbai Indians.
Apart from Pant, the Test squad bound for Australia has KL Rahul, the chosen man behind the stumps in the shorter formats, in the set-up. Rahul is the only stumper in the ODI squad, while Sanju Samson is also in the mix in the T20I party.