Virender Sehwag: Will there be redemption?

8 years and 11 months ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

MULTAN, PAKISTAN: Indian batsman Virender Sehwag celebrates after scoring his triple century during the second day of the first Test match between Pakistan and Indian in Multan, 29 March 2004.

Multan is alive. The sun is a scorcher – pushing 40 degrees, but people within a mile-radius couldn’t care less. Something extraordinary is about to transpire. Or maybe the whole thing’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Virender Sehwag is on 295. Having carpet-bombed two sessions of the day at a strike-rate of over 85, he is at the precipice. Five more runs and he becomes the first Indian to score 300. Runs, that is, in a single innings. Two nations watch, and Sehwag looks prepared to launch anything that moves into outer space.

Saqlain Mushtaq, that wily customer with the wicked curve-ball measures him up, or so he thinks. Surely, Viru will grasp the gravity of the situation, and proceed with some measure of caution?

Mushtaq rolls his arms, Sehwag charges down the track with a sudden burst of agility, and before you can say ‘Pakistan-goose-cooked’, the ball is sailing over long-on. No Alfred-Hitchcockian-pressure-cooker-near-milestone-flutters here. If he can swing the bat and hit it, he will hit it as hard as he possibly can. 300, in style.

7 years, 9 months and 10,000 international runs later…

Virender Sehwag has made Indore the centre of the earth, if only for a day. West Indies are only used to inflicting ‘the Chris Gayle treatment’ on others; today, the cricket Gods are on psychedelic drugs and Sehwag has been ‘Gayle-ing’ them for everything they’ve got.

Only, the Real McGayle has never made it this far. 22 fours and 6 sixes later, Sehwag is on 196. The precipice, again. Sachin Tendulkar is on a plane, blissfully aware that his recently forged “unbreakable” record is in imminent danger. “I’d be happy if my record is broken by an Indian”, he had said.

Take it one step at a time Viru, the commentators are actually pleading. Something to do with how a batsman of his repute deserves a double ton, especially after having scored at a strike-rate of over 150 for some 45 overs of play.

A nation prays for deliverance in one breath…ah, cut the crap! Sehwag cuts the very next Andre Russell offering for four past third-man.

He takes India to its highest ODI total ever. He scores the highest individual ODI total ever, and this time it looks truly unbreakable. He does all this and doesn’t even last the full 50 overs.

Virender Sehwag was ‘Man of the Match’ that night. The award would be his last for a very long time.

Four days ago, in a date with destiny…

India need 50 to win against an Australian team numbed and dumbed down by the subcontinental way of cricket. Walk in the park, yes? Virender Sehwag walks in like a boxer who is past his prime – determined yet edgy. An invisible axe is headed his way from the heavens, and he has but one chance to dodge it. The applause that greets him is toned down.

A novice spinner’s attempts at his leg-stump unnerve him. The Virender Sehwag who made sure every bowler who ever bowled at him ended up with an economy-rate on the moon would have swatted away such deliveries with disdain. But that man had been replaced by a shadow, one that stretches its front foot to incredibly awkward lengths only to make sure his bat finds the ball, and gently pushes it away.

Whatever happened to those turbo-charged square-cuts and upper-cuts is anybody’s guess. He does score three boundaries – two of them thick edges that could have well landed in the hands of slip-fielders. And then it does, even as another awkward defense that he mounts against a Nathan Lyon straight-arrow delivery crumbles. In and out, that’s how he rolls these days. He’s barely lasted half an hour. That’s four minutes longer than his stint in the first innings.

Where do we go from here?

Now, Virender Sehwag has never been the sort you’d call ’consistent’. Dangerous, yes. Match-winner, perhaps. His race car driver reflexes and incredible hand-eye coordination has been a subject of intense analysis and consequent bewilderment. You cannot formulate strategies to bowl to India and leave out a statutory warning about Sehwag.

All of this is fine, but is there anything left of this cricketer as we knew him? Yes, the century at Ahmedabad was charming, but you leave out that one innings and Sehwag has averaged less than 25 in both ODI and Test cricket since that magical double ton in December ’11.

More than a few former players have gone on air questioning his commitment to the side. Now there’s a blemish on his rap-sheet unlike any other. We have commentators pointing out that he doesn’t react as sharply in the slips anymore (read: doesn’t bend his knees to take the catch if the ball dips below waist-level).

His captain has chosen to stand by him, as do the legions of his fans. “Well, that’s how he bats. About Virupa, I’ve said this many times before, when he scores runs, he looks a fantastic player.” M.S. Dhoni would sure hope his faith is rewarded.

Without a doubt, Nathan Lyon’s dismissal of him during the chase of a miniscule target has made the psychological dent the Aussies desired. What remains to see is how Sehwag will respond in Hyderabad. This may well be the series that decides his future in Indian cricket; his one shot at redemption.