Describing Virender Sehwag as a cricketer is perhaps the easiest job for a commentator. With people like him basically what you see is what you get. No pun intended, only admiration. He's the sort of guy who would walk into the semi final of a cricket world cup against his arch rival with a chewing gum in his mouth, a smile on his face and probably the tune of a Bollywood music playing in his head. If ever there was a cricketing equivalent of the saying "carpe diem" of living life king size on the cricket field - Sehwag personified it for the modern era, more than anybody else.
Now that Sehwag is not there anymore in this era, I think AB Devilliers is a perfect ally to Sehwag. Another batsman from another continent someone whom I admire so much, somebody whom I'm looking forward to watching when the Proteas eventually come to India for a 72 days tour in October-November. Like most Indians out there, I've to say "I hope he scores a lot of runs in India, hope he scores a couple of hundreds.” Add to that, I also pray that India find a way to win that series as well! Sorry AB! This is an Indian cricket fan for you, we want everything, we are greedy but our greed definitely doesn't come at the expense of watching our team lose to an opponent like yours, even if that opponent features amazing players like you!(More on that in another blog hopefully)
Remember, it’s been a long time since South Africa toured India, and the last one, and certainly the one before that, featured India's trump card in the sub-continent, an opener in Virender Sehwag who could tear apart a tearaway fast bowler like Dale Steyn albeit the conditions were familiar to him. Sehwag vs Steyn I miss seeing that battle the most. And fortunately or unfortunately AB Devilliers vs Ashwin just doesn't do it for me quite like Sehwag vs Steyn no matter how good Ravi Ashwin is and how great, AB Devilliers is.(Perhaps Amla vs Ashwin would be a better contest but that’s not even the whole point here.)
Look, folks, Sehwag cast that magical spell on all of us like an evanescent morning fog on a hill station. It doesn't always last for long it doesn't have to but while it lasted, you can be rest assured you’re watching something and someone, special. For me he's the equivalent of Ethan hunt in cricket, the kind of chutzpah double agent who could make the impossible, possible and on whom his cohorts would relish using the phrase "the living manifestation of destiny."
The magnitude of the occasion, the number of people watching the game, the reputation of the opposition and the bowler, the playing conditions, the nature of the pitch - that sort of thing doesn't really Invade Sehwag’s thought process.(Like, how, Steyn doesn't think about the slower bouncer or the back of the hand stuff.)
Ian Chappell once described him in his video blog - He is the classic see the ball, hit the ball batsman. "If you want to simplify the game of cricket that’s how you do it – it’s see the ball hit the ball. And Virender Sehwag has managed to cut all that crap away and that’s what he is left with."
I agree with Chappell. People spent so much time strategizing their game sometimes to their own downfall, whereas, players like Sehwag would keep it simple within the 22 yards and let his instincts take over while delighting pundits and purists alike.(Although the vultures really tore apart his technique like a lion ripping apart its prey, especially when he was not at his most fluent)
You couldn't sledge him out could you? You either get him out with a good ball or you don't. He intimidates bowlers, even the best of them. And more importantly, he made life difficult for the bowlers simply because he kept his focus within the playing field over matters that little significance
What really happened off it, what happened before or after a series has begun barely matters to him. This leads to a common myth that he was too casual a cricketer. I think the word you're searching for is cool not casual and going by the words of his peers, especially a fellow admirer in Rahul Dravid, Sehwag works as hard as anybody in the nets or outside. I don't think Sehwag read the newspapers so much - his English certainly wasn't all that good - but still, he's a good reader of the game and his general understanding of the game of cricket and his attitude towards it, was certainly one of the highest order.
The way he insisted Ishant Sharma should bowl to Ricky Ponting in Perth, 2008 despite - the gangling right arm quick being on the brink of finishing his spell - with India's then captain Anil Kumble was vintage Sehwag for you.
He obviously knew Ishant from close quarters, he captained him in the Ranji trophy for Delhi. But what was crucial at the time for all parties concerned was for him to have the mental courage to be able to go up to the captain and suggest something like that despite not even bearing the tag of the his depute, the vise-captain of the team, spoke volumes for Sehwag.(It also shows how much the team respected individuals then, especially senior ones.)
Kumble thought he was done with Ishy and by his own submission, he almost made the fatal mistake of replacing him with R P Singh, the left arm swing bowler from UP. Fortunately for India and Ishant, Kumble reluctantly agreed to Viru and in the end, as the history books suggests it, Sehwag was right.(Now that Ishant has found his pomp back; Sehwag is not even in the Indian team anymore! What an irony that is?)
Mindset, that’s what set Sehwag apart. This match awareness, this great ability of his to switch on and off in between passages of play is something that never ceased to amaze me about the bloke, even today. He was a good slip catcher, could barely remember him dropping one, and unlike so many of his contemporaries he did that(meaning switch on and off) on a consistent basis. India has been blessed with many like him, I think M S Dhoni is another one, but still you won't see a Sehwag any more would you?
People, even those who don't know much about the sport, used to talk rubbish about Sehwag the batsman - like he doesn't move his meet much, like him being an unpredictable player etc. I mean Graham Pollock didn't move his feet much did he? Of course compared to the greats in his own team, he was unpredictable. You know when a Sachin means business or a Dravid does, you could tell. But with Sehwag that wasn't quite the case which is a good thing mind you.
I’m saying that mainly because sometimes players like Sehwag makes decision making easy for you especially when the team is not performing well and the captain is under so much scrutiny. You either back a player like that or you drop him. With Sehwag in the team you're almost assured of two outcomes - either he clicks, or he doesn't. For starters there are no real in-between scores that annoy you; with most people in the team that was pretty obvious. You can trust your eye for it which simply meant that Sehwag's career was basically a gamble, a gamble which was well worth the taking for India, on hindsight.(This is unlike relying on an Afridi who makes silly excuses for playing irrational cricket)
It’s difficult to set fields to players like Sehwag. I don't know how peers would rank him or captains would, but as a spectator, he kept you in the edge of your seats. There is never a boring moment when Virender Sehwag’s at the crease, he didn't even allow boredom to settle in. Not only did Sehwag have such an enormous range of shots but also he had the willingness and the courage to play them, at will. Not all greats had that courage and not all players dared to imitate Sehwag’s brand of cricket(Note: Sachin admitted he couldn't play like Sehwag hence the withdrawal from playing the cover drive, one of his revered strokes, at the SCG).
I know Sachin didn't do that because he was intimidated by Sehwag or because Sehwag allegedly told him to do so. He did that because at the time he was getting caught behind the stumps too often even against bowlers of lesser calibre. Withdrawing from it and finding ways to cope with it in the middle of a series sure was mighty effective and commendable but ingenious? Is certainly not the apt word for it. Would Sehwag have done that? Would Sehwag have played that way? I don't think so(This was both a weakness and a strength of Sehwag. The fact that he played his natural game always meant that it was a strength. That he didn't adapt to the changing nature of the game and his team’s requirements meant that he had to make his way out eventually for somebody else in the team. Something which Sachin didn't let happen)
Sehwag's career was basically a two-part epic. The first part was magnificent, the second one wasn't.
I'd like to remember him for a period between 2002-2004 and then 2007 to 2010, the year when he eventually got the ICC test player of the year award. At that time, Sehwag was far and away the best match winner in the Indian side; he was one of a kind. He could play even good deliveries to the boundary never mind the bad ones which according to many was an indicator of greatness.
Sehwag's brand of batsmanship constitutes of doing simple basic things over and over - he relied on sheer bravado, hand-eye coordination, common logic and maybe even, Quantum physics.
When you see the sight of a batsman top edging one over the slips to the boundary over the head of a flying third man or a catching third man drafted-in particular for that shot, you think of expressions like "Oh! That’s bad luck for the bowler!" “Moral victory for the bowler” “The batsman is lucky to be still there” etc. Not so much when Sehwag's at the crease mind you.
Why so? One might ask. A) Because it’s in the nature of his game to play like that B) Because he mastered that shot and C) Because you as a bowler knows deep down within that he's goanna keep playing that way no matter what happens around him. When Tendulkar got out in the MCG to Brett Lee, Sehwag bludgeoned the next ball off Stuart Mcgill off to the deep midwicket boundary!
He gives you a chance as an opposition but once Sehwag finds his rhythm, once he finds the middle of his bat instead of the edge, pretty much everyone on the field would look like a hapless spectator. That rattles the opposition more than anything else and that drives a captain mad more than anything or anybody, else.
I've seen captains, even the best of them, gesticulating fields and tactics to his bowler when Sehwag's at his pomp. That’s a regular sight in on-field captaincy but what is so funny about it is that they all fail in what they are doing and after a point, having realized that they have, they stop the gesticulation and start to admire the show named Virendra Sehwag even with Tendulkar batting on the other end!(Not demeaning Tendulkar folks, just saying.)
Technically speaking moral victories don't exist when this blokes at the crease.(Graeme Smith was the only one to challenge this guy but hey, he had the bowlers to do so!)
Amazing player! I had the good fortune of watching some of the classic, belligerent display of batsmanship from Sehwag especially in the sub continent and some away too. His triple in multan was magnificent, the one in Brabourne Stadium was breath taking. The innings he played against Dale Steyn's South Africa in a hot beaming chennai was hours of pure bliss. No one could rule out what he did to the mighty aussies in the MCG either. It(meaning all of it) dismayed the best in the world in a manner that’s evocative of the Viv Richards and Garfield Sobers of the world.
But I think his best innings came when the chips were down, when India were in trouble. It was in Galle, Sri Lanka in 2008-09 on what looked certain to be a series decider. The Sri Lankans won the first test convincingly. They had some terrific bowlers in their team. Murali(the name is enough) Rangana Herath, they had an emerging mystery spinner in Agentha Mendis who bewildered the Indian batsmen in the three match series. They had Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Mathews.
But Sehwag handled them all with ease and elegance and most importantly, he carried the bat through scoring 240 ode in a team total of 330 ode. This despite India having the best players of spin bowling, including VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and, of course, the great Sachin.
Sehwag taught the Indians the importance of staying still, of why watching the ball closely and playing it late, the old school way to playing cricket, is the way to tackle Agenta Mendis. As a result no one heard of Mendis anymore! He just disappeared from the scene.
This shatters the myth that much of Sehwag's success owed to the batting nucleus in the team, that he enjoyed the success so much mainly because he was surrounded by batsmen of such world class calibre. Not at all. Its actually the contrary, its the batting nucleus who relished the prospect of playing with Sehwag.
The fact that Sehwag wasn't overwrought by the presence of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly spoke volumes of his talent and chutzpah. People talk about Dhoni but much of the credits should go to Ganguly for it’s he who found the talent of Virendra Sehwag and brought it to the world. He promoted Viru's batting position from middle order player to opener and nurtured him through the tricky period of polishing the talent, of respecting it, working on it and realizing what you can do with it.(And Dhoni perhaps killed it too. Or was it Sehwag’s fault himself? Can’t tell.)
Viru's stint in cricket was full of great ironies. He was tailor made for the shorter format of cricket and yet, it’s in the longer format he relished scoring and earned his reputation. His One day record is modest for a batsmen of his calibre although he did showcase flashes of brilliance here and there once in a blue moon. Fastest ODI hundred, the 219 against the West Indies. If it hadn't been for Rohit and Virat breaking those records, I think Sehwag would have lived with it for the rest of his life like a bedfellow.
You could understand why Sunny Gavaskar achieved the feat of batting through the innings having remained not out all his life but to think that Sehwag, a flamboyant batsman compared to Gavaskar, would replicate that feat too is something really bewildering and surreal!
I'm sure Sehwag wasn't so keen on numbers much like Tendulkar but his statistics mirrored his value to the team. He averaged around 50 and his strike rate rung an absurd 75 ode! Contrary to the common belief, I think his away records were welcoming too
More than statistics it’s the sheer self confidence that set him apart from the rest. Everyone knows what Sehwag told to John Wright, when the two exchanged words in the early 2000's. Well, wait I’ve got a better story to tell.
After India's capitulation in the first test there was so much buzz over the young mystery spinner. He'd run India ragged in Asia cup prior to that and he did something similar in the first test as well. And everybody was so focused on playing Mendis, Mendis. Somebody asked Sehwag "What do you think of him?" his reply was a typical Sehwag one - "They have Murali, an even better spinner. So the question is not what I think him. It’s what they, meaning he, think of me."
Sehwag was quite clearly in the mould of the great West Indian players of the 70's and 80's. People like Richards and Sobers comes to memory. If not in terms of ability, at least in terms of temperament, he was one true West Indian. So much of style and swagger and no boring moment.
When time passed by and the game changed, disciplinary issues and sheer lack of runs saw Sehwag getting dropped from the Indian team. His instincts had eluded him, although the hunger for runs and success was and is, still there. He was a batsman who relied a great deal on hand-eye coordination but once that fizzled a bit, his game too, fizzled.(The fact that he suggested Dhoni to drop him down the order to the middle order indicated frailties in the great man)
I was touched by Sehwag's gesture to move himself out of Delhi when he decided the time is right to give a couple of their youngsters a chance. That takes some doing especially with Delhi being his home ground and considering the fact that he'd played all his cricket over there. I know it must have been so emotional for him but then again that's just Sehwag being Sehwag for you.
He called the shots, he lured the crowd. He did whatever he could to entertain them. I know for a fact that the Feroze Shah Kotla maidan having more empty seats now that Virendra is gone.
I couldn't even imagine him leaving the game at the selector’s mercy by accepting an offer, which he wouldn't accept in any case, to play the one-odd retirement game in his favourite venue.(Even the Godfather couldn't make that happen for he was Virendra aka Veeru) His name rhymed with one of the beloved screen characters in Indian cinema and the legacy he’s left behind is one of courage, bravado and attacking mindset. On the field he was a larger than life guy, off it he was so polite and modest.
I could relate to him more than I could do so to Sachin and hence he is my favourite cricketer from the annals of Indian cricket. He was flamboyant, he was flashy. He was ordinary and, yet, extra ordinary. Not least he wasn't an alien from another planet you know who?
It’s a pity we don't have players like him any more in the present era at least in terms of attitude if not, calibre. As a Sehwag fan-boy, I can only imagine him playing with the likes of Viv Richards, Garfield Sobers or Gordon Greenidge all from the west Indies. Unlike many batsmen during his era, these men would have relished the prospect of playing with Sehwag and have matched Sehwag shot for shot giving the audience around the globe a proposition of watching a Hollywood spectacle - Kiss! Kiss! Bang! Bang!:)
P.S. This article is a part of a series I’m writing called “My favourite cricketers and cricketing memories.” Sehwag is just only a start, the rest is yet to follow. Keep reading. Thanks for the visit:)
