DILIP Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, minced no words when talking about Virender Sehwag's batting so far on the Bangladesh tour. "I'm disappointed with his performance," Vengsarkar told the Hindustan Times here on Sunday. "He has so much talent. But he's wasting it."

Sehwag failed to get big scores in the first two One-day Internationals against Bangladesh, which India won. Worse, he got out to irresponsible shots after starting well. "In both innings, he dominated the bowlers and then got out. He didn't convert the starts," said Vengsarkar, here to watch the One-day series, which concludes with the third match here on Tuesday. "He can't seem to control his exuberance. If he hits four fours in an over, he wants to hit a fifth one. As one of the seniors in the team, he should be able to play longer innings."
Has anyone spoken to Sehwag on this subject? "Yes," said Vengsarkar. "But he is experienced enough to understand himself. Nobody needs to tell him." On a brighter note, Vengsarkar was happy with India's series win. "Everything was down in the dumps after the World Cup, so it's good to win," he said. "There is a lot of cricket ahead for India and it's good, especially for youngsters, to be part of a winning atmosphere."

Vengsarkar was specially impressed with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, architect of the fighting win in the first One-day International, and his partner in the quest, Dinesh Karthik. "They proved themselves to be good finishers," Vengsarkar said.

Lunch with Ershad

It was in Chittagong that Bangladesh played their first One-day International at home. The season was 1988-89. The opposition was India. The captain? Dilip Vengsarkar. Old time followers of Indian cricket would remember a picture of a beaming Vengsarkar in a bright Lacoste t-shirt and the then fashionable acid wash jeans displaying the trophy."Bangladesh then were what we called a 'quotient team'. You played against them, scored lots of runs, got lots of wickets and improved your average," a nostalgic Vengsarkar recalled. "In the Asia Cup we beat them, then Pakistan and Lanka."

Vengsarkar said he had lunch with former Bangladesh ruler General Hussein Mohammed Ershad during one of the two One-day matches in Mirpur, Dhaka. Ershad was at the helm when the Asia Cup was played. "He is gotten old but is still passionate about cricket. I reminded him about the Asia Cup," Vengsarkar said before heading to the gym at Hotel Peninsula, where the Indian and Bangladesh teams and officials are staying.

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