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InDepth headlines national business sports cricket regional entertainment technology world travel autos health | in-depth coverage > India-England Series 2006 > What is wrong with Virender Sehwag 22.29 IST 30th Mar 2006 By Manish Kumar 
There was a time not long ago in international cricket that bowlers around the world would worry about how to stop the Virender Sehwag juggernaut.Such was Sehwag’s imperious form in international cricket that containing the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’ was the question uppermost in the minds of the opposing team’s think tank. Sehwag scored a scintillating 254 in a near world-record opening wicket stand with captain Rahul Dravid in the Lahore Test against Pakistan in January. The Delhi dazzler made mincemeat of the Pakistan attack, touted by their former skipper Imran Khan before the match as better than even Australia’s, and it was not only the number of runs scored by Sehwag but also the manner in which he accomplished the feat that was breathtaking. Sehwag simply took the bull by its horns and tamed the Pakistan pace attack with the ferocity of a lion pouncing on a bison on a wicket tailor-made for his style of explosive strokeplay. But from then on, Sehwag’s scores have been on the decline specially in one-day cricket inspite of the fact that he has the reputation of one of the most feared and most destructive batsmen in international cricket. Sehwag’s last one-day century came against Pakistan on April 2 last year and since then he has played 34 innings without a three-figure score to his name which means that Sehwag hasn’t scored a hundred in one day cricket ever since Greg Chappell took over as coach of the Indian team. In his first 53 one day internationals since he was elevated to the position of an opener, Sehwag scored 1971 runs at a healthy average of 40.22 with five centuries and nine fifties. But in his last 25 innings in one-day cricket, Sehwag has scored 758 runs, with a miserly average of 31.58, no hundred and three fifties – not a track record that would justify the stature of Sehwag. So what seems to be the problem of Sehwag? “Susceptibility against the short, rising ball” would be the unison reply. This pattern of Sehwag’s dismissal is ironically similar in both Test and one-day cricket. In the last one-dayer against England at the Ferozeshah Kotla, Sehwag edged a bouncer from James Anderson high up in the air for Liam Plunkett to take the catch at mid-wicket. Sehwag hardly has any feet movement but he makes up for that with his excellent hand-eye coordination, which in turn forces him to hold the handle of his willow tightly. But to play a bouncer, specially when one is looking to defend it, one needs to hold the handle loosely or else the ball loops up in the air – which normally happens with Sehwag. Sehwag’s ways are simple and the reasons for his phenomenal success despite what pundits reckon is his major drawback-lack of feet movement-are his tremendous hand-eye coordination and his early reading of the length of the ball that ensures he’s seldom caught off balance except when he is caught unawares against the bouncer. And today when the use of technology is widespread no batsman is a stranger for the opposition when he comes to the crease. Every batsman has his weakness and to survive at the highest level, he needs to keep working on his game and improve it to eradicate that weakness for one day the opposition will definitely work it out. Sehwag is not out of form the way he got off the mark in Delhi – with his trademark slash through point for four – was nothing less that stunning but to the disappointment of his home crowd Sehwag’s vigil ended shortly thereafter. India need Sehwag to fire desperately in Faridabad on Friday and also in the rest of the series more so because the home team is without Sachin Tendulkar and statistics prove that whenever Sehwag has fired, India have won the match. in-depth coverage > India-England Series 2006 > |
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