“Sehwag” has had an exceptional career. He's been the most dangerous batsman in world cricket for a long time
Once again the irrepressible virender sehwag has made a valuable contribution to an Indian Test victory, this time a series-tying win over Sri Lanka.
S is for Sehwag and also for scintillating strokeplay, the perfect description for how he goes about his business. However, you can add another S - for smart. The crucial factor in Sehwag being a smart cricketer is the fact that he's always been his own man as a batsman. Many people talk about his lack of footwork and other supposed flaws in his technique, but Sehwag just shrugs and smiles, as if to say, "Just watch me bat next time."
In this regard he reminds me of my former team-mate Doug Walters. Walters was a match-winner and an extremely aggressive batsman but he resided in the middle order. Many people harped on his crooked back-lift and how this stopped him reaching his full potential.
During a day of golf in Brisbane, after Walters had made a century in a Test match, former England fast bowler Frank "Typhoon" Tyson came up to him. "Doug, your technique is a disgrace," he began in provocative fashion. "If I was bowling, I'd give you a couple of bouncers and then an offcutter which would go right between your bat and pad."
Walters took a sip of his beer, looked at the retired fast bowler and replied: "That's not a problem, Typhoon. I won't have to face you in this series."
Judging by Sehwag's highly entertaining press conference earlier this year, where he bluntly stated: "Bangladesh are an ordinary side. They can't beat India because they can't take 20 wickets," it's not just his approach to batting that he has in common with Walters. Sehwag is a breath of fresh air, both on and off the field. He plays with gay abandon and speaks with refreshing honesty.
To bat as fearlessly as him, you need to have great confidence in your ability, and the self-belief that you're better than any bowler, any attack. His comments were not arrogance; rather, an honest reflection of the way he sizes up an attack.
I played with a like-minded opener - South Australia's Les Favell. He was the most confident - some would say over-confident - player I ever encountered. He once opened in a Sheffield Shield match against the top-class Australian fast bowler Graham McKenzie and missed an attempted cut shot on the first ball of the match. Favell top-edged the next cut shot to the boundary, and was out third ball, caught behind attempting yet another cut. On his return to the dressing room he tossed his bat in disgust and declared, "Jeez I was seein' 'em like footballs." Favell never encountered a prolonged slump; to play in that manner you have to believe the next boundary will have you back in prime form. Sehwag's Test career follows a similar pattern. The nearest he's come to a prolonged poor patch was prior to the 2007-08 tour of Australia, when he was really struggling, even at the first-class level, and some were ready to write him off. He has satisfactorily answered those critics and since returning to the Indian side he's been far and away their best batsman.
Excluding matches against Bangladesh, he has scored more runs and more centuries than anyone else, and at a higher average than all but Gautam Gambhir (among those who have scored over 250 runs in this period). However, when it comes to run-rate, he leaves them all in his slipstream; astonishingly, he's more than two runs an over quicker than all the others.
That is what sets Sehwag apart from all other openers: his run-rate, allied with his amazing ability to post mammoth scores. Sir Donald Bradman is the only other player who has combined those two incredibly difficult batting tasks, scoring extraordinarily quickly for long periods, and even he didn't do it facing the new ball.
Whichever way you look at it, Sehwag has either had the misfortune or the good luck to play in the same side as Sachin Tendulkar. It either deprives him of publicity or allows him to float along in the background, almost unimpeded.
Sehwag has had an exceptional career. He's been the most dangerous batsman in world cricket for a long time. He's done it by adhering to another S: keeping it simple to be successful.
