A tribute to Virender Sehwag: "Let’s go after watching Sehwag’s batting"

It was a treat to watch Sehwag bat

Cricket in its earliest form was just an uncomplicated pastime in which one player served up an object (like a ball) and another hit it with a fashioned club. The intention of the person throwing the ball, known as the bowler, was to get the other person known as the batsman out while the batsman played to hit the ball. This was cricket in its native state.

However, over the years the game evolved and it became much more than just hitting the ball thrown up at you. A lot of nuances were added to the game of cricket. Now as an opener in Test match cricket you were not only supposed to defend the ball but also leave the balls outside your off-stump. Hitting balls in the air was considered as a sin. Legendary openers like Sunil Gavaskar perfected the art of defence and, in fact, believed in giving the first hour of play to the bowlers.

Generations after generations, batsmen believed in this philosophy and rarely did anyone break away from these age-long established rules of batting. Then, sometime in the winter of 2001 came a maverick by the name Virender Sehwag who believed in playing cricket in its original form or at least one got that feeling. He had a simple modus operandi - if the ball was in his zone, he will hit it irrespective of the reputation of the bowler or the situation of the match.

This fearless approach gives us an insight into Sehwag’s uncluttered mind. To quote Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..Into ever-widening thought and action.” Sehwag’s mind was without fear and there was action aplenty. 

A Sehwag innings would never be dull and was always full of life, but much like life it had no certainty. On days, he could just dismiss the opposition by his presence and on others he would be back in the pavillion before you even entered the stadium. Sehwag was definitely not for the faint-hearted. At times, the manner of his dismissals could leave you shocked and on others you would just sit back and admire the audacity of his shots.

You hardly ever analysed Sehwag’s innings, you just enjoyed them

His impressive career numbers always had experts suggesting that there was a method to his madness. Now that he has retired from the highest level of the game, it is the job of an expert to analyse, but as Harsha Bhogle once said,

“You hardly ever analysed Sehwag’s innings, you just enjoyed them.”

A Sehwag innings was indeed all about enjoyment and the runs were a mere by-product. He could whistle his way to a triple hundred while the bowlers toiled it hard to break his melody. 

His innings could get the child out in you jumping with joy or his dismissal could have you pulling your hair in frustration. One thing sure with Sehwag was that there was no time to relax either for the bowler or for the spectators. The only person who could give you an impression of relaxation was Sehwag himself. 

So, if the 90s was all about “Sachin khel raha hai kya?” (Is Sachin batting?), then the first decade of the new millennium was about “Sehwag ki batting dekh kar chalte hain” (Let’s go after watching Sehwag’s batting). Now that he has retired, I can say that it was good that I waited and was privileged to watch his batting.