Let’s learn to accept Sehwag for what he is

Sunday April 6, 12:13 AM

When there is a batsman who can make two Test triple centuries and in the record books rub shoulders with Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara like Virender Sehwag, one picks him for the Indian team with no questions asked and if exasperated with his failures and inconsistencies, drops him for good. In Chennai in the first Test he made the highest individual record score of 319 and promptly in the second Test in Ahmedabad was out for six in the first innings.

That is Sehwag for you. The amazing aspect of his play is despite the vagaries in form, he is not inclined to change his approach. With a Test match average in excess of 50 — which puts him in the same league as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid — why should he? When his journey as an international cricketer ends and he is just 29, if he is able to maintain this average he is bound to go down as one of the most aggressive and devastating batsmen in the history of the game. To try and explain Sehwag’s batting style as well as thinking are fraught with difficulty. In contrast, he might have a simple explanation for what he does and how he does it. I have been an admirer of his absolutely flawless backplay and wish he had been more sideways when playing on the front foot. However, only the foolish would underestimate his cricketing acumen.

His bowling, for instance, indicates the presence of a shrewd and calculative mind. I have been of the view that he could bowl a lot more but then there seems to be a disinclination to treat him as a frontliner. I am sure if he is told that the team management expects him to be one, he would revel in the responsibility and challenge.

There was a time at the start of his career that he was described as a Sachin Tendulkar clone as a batsman. If this was done in order to praise him and because there was some similarity in strokes and execution, one is not sure. But to the discerning it was noticeable that he read and length and line earlier than his contemporaries and though his footwork looked inadequate at times, he seemed to be able swing his bat powerfully and find the necessary room.

He seems to lapse in concentration when it is least expected and it is possible this happens because he does not set himself targets. It seems a mental abberation amd something that someone like Paddy Upton who is with the Indian team, can get his teeth into. One learns that Sehwag is willing to interact with the South African on the mental side.

The fact is that when he is on song the best bowlers in the game seem to run out of ideas. Many of them are obviously intimidated and even reduced to a state very soon, that they would prefer to be taken off. The attitude of captains seems to be to let the tornado which is Sehwag, spend itself.

But then does not Sehwag understand that he has the bowlers and captains at his mercy and all that is required is another hour or two and he would have demoralised them. It was significant to hear the South African captain, Graeme Smith confess after Sehwag’s blitzkrieg in Chennai that he was helpless.

What prevents him from changing gear — slowing down, reflecting and reassessing the situation? He is too intelligent not to be able to. I share the view with the former all-rounder, Ravi Shastri that Sehwag is a shrewd and thinking cricketer, who knows what he wants and does precisely as he likes. Here was a batsman who had in his sights the hightest individual Test score twice and seemingly did not care enough to make it his own. The view that some Australians like Matthew Hayden have, that Indians are obsessed with records cannot be true in the case of Sehwag.

The natural impulse was to check the records to ascertain whether there had been a batsman with Sehwag’s abilities and characteristics before. Strangely, the batsman who has a similar sort of record was Sir Everton De Courcey Weekes, the most feared of the famous three Ws. He was a butcher who murdered the opposition and with the attitude that somebody always had to pay. Sehwag could do the same and like Weekes, make it count.

Weekes played 48 Tests, scored 4,555 runs at an average of 58.61 with 15 centuries. Sehwag had played, till Chennai, 55 Tests, scored 4,760 runs at an average of 53.48 and 14 centuries. Had Weekes been in Chennai he would have told Sehwag to go on and make 500 so there is no threat ever again to his record. But there lies the difference. Sehwag will be Sehwag and let us decide whether we love him or hate him. He is not going to change.

Email this article to your friend

More Cricket News

Brazil dream of Test cricket status, India may pitch in
Few takers for tickets in Mohali
On Lucknow's streets, coach finds a rare catch
Ponting warms up, Dada skips net session
‘Twenty20 will promote Test cricket’
Chaos at revamped Kotla warm-up tie
IPL not just about fresh legs: Sanath
West Indies win toss and invite Sri Lanka to bat
Coach Arthur ecstatic about South Africa's future
Australia call up Bollinger in place of Hilfenhaus