An ode to Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag in his elements was like poetry in motion. It was like a jugalbandi of Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain. It was joyful and elegant. He dismissed even the most fearsome of bowlers with utmost careless disdain. For him, batting was all about scoring as many runs possible and as quickly as possible.

The context, the circumstances and the situations never bothered him. He always played his natural game and had an immensely uncomplicated approach towards batting. He needs to be respected for the nonchalant approach that he brought to the crease. He needs to be loved for not adhering or paying any heed to the batting manuals; for not trying to take a single after clearing the boundary, and trying to clear it again; for thinking shouldering arms to a delivery is a waste of his and the spectator’s time!

With all due respect to the mammoth scores that he has accumulated, he also needs to be remembered for the countless cameos; for those boundaries in the first over; that helped set-up victories for the team or give the much-needed initial momentum. He needs to be admired for the trying to get to his third triple ton in Test (a feat never achieved, mind you) with a six and getting out; and to top it, he never even a morsel of regret about that.

He needs to be revered for being surprisingly, nay shockingly, honest and undiplomatic, for being direct and candid about his views and opinions, both on and off the field, a very rare trait among contemporary cricketers. In spite of his scanty footwork (which has also been the reason of his dismissals many a time), he needs to be respected for not bothering about it ever and accumulating runs all over the world in all formats with the help of his hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Also, it would be criminal to forget the catches that he has taken at slip.

His debut century at Bloemfontein in a time of crisis, his superlative 309 in Multan, an even better 319 against the Proteas in Chennai, the ODI double hundred in Indore, the fastest 250 against the Lankans, the carefree 84 and 106 on his first tour to England, the belligerent 164 and 88 against the Proteas in 2004, his dazzling Man-of-the-Series performance against Pakistan (again) in 2005, carrying his bat on his way to a double century against SL in 2009 en route a 100 of 60 balls, a lightening quick 195 in Melbourne, his full throttle 83 that set up India’s chase of 387 against England right after the Mumbai terrorist attacks, that 293 against SL, are only a part of the legacy that he will leave behind for all his fans, for us to rejoice and remember.

Nobody is indispensable and it seems evident that the team has been managing without him very well. However, there was an aura around when he was batting which can never be replaced. His superlative aggressive approach had instilled a sense of fear for the bowlers, and a sense of excitement and anticipation for the fans.

The tremendous speed with which he scored his runs and his appetite for giant daddy scores may never be matched. Despite all this, there has always been second thoughts on placing him in the category of greats, mainly because of his methods. However, considering the fact that he has scored centuries, both in shorter and longer formats, all over the world, in extremely testing conditions; and has made a sheer impact on the game with his extremely quick scoring, he is a ‘great’ by any standard.

India vs England, 2012, Eden Gardens, Kolkata. India trail England by a huge 207 runs. Enter Sehwag and Gambhir for the second innings. Sehwag scores a 49 studded with some exquisite shots. This humble author was one of the spectators that day, the ‘only’ reason he went to see the match was the hope and wish that Sehwag would go bonkers (mind you, this was a time when Sachin Tendulkar was nearing the end of his career).

It was a pity he got out to Swann right after, as always, playing a reckless shot. He has always chosen to live by (and die by) his own rules. No matter what. And that’s he how we should remember him by.