Sehwag's temperament is exemplary
Is there still any doubt that the Indian batting line-up is the most explosive, the most attractive in world cricket today
Partab Ramchand
23-Sep-2002
Is there still any doubt that the Indian batting line-up is the
most explosive, the most attractive in world cricket today? Any
doubts on this score would have been erased after Sunday's
performance at the Premadasa stadium.
© Reuters |
But then when Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly are on
song, who needs Tendulkar and company? Whatever his
technical limitations in Test cricket, Sehwag is God sent for the
Indian team in one day cricket. A lot has already been said and
written about his physical resemblance to Tendulkar, how he
plays his shots very much in the manner of the great man, how
his approach to the game too is the same. And on Sunday, he
took another step in matching Tendulkar in strokeplay and in
tearing the bowling apart.
What I have particularly liked about Sehwag is his temperament.
No big match nerves for him. He may have a healthy respect for
the opposition but he is not one to be overawed by their lofty
reputation. He treats the bowling on merit but only just. He has
this happy knack of converting even the seemingly good balls
into half volleys and launches into a ferocious onslaught. He
plays all the shots in the book and then adds some of his own.
The England bowlers on Sunday looked helpless but then Sehwag
has this ability to dictate terms. He hits them so hard and high,
he smashes the ball to all parts of the field in such a manner
that the bowler soon becomes demoralised. And while I was of
course reminded of Tendulkar during his tenure at the crease on
Sunday, my mind also went back to the mid-90s when a certain
Sanath Jayasuriya had bowlers pleading for mercy and captains
running out of ideas while placing a field.
Even Krish Srikkanth, no slouch with the bat himself and a
pioneer of innovative strokes, was moved to admit in his postmatch comments that he would have been hard pressed to bat
like Sehwag did on Sunday. The most encouraging aspect from
the Indian point of view is that Sehwag's success has taken a
lot of pressure away from Tendulkar.
It was natural that in the context of Sehwag's amazing knock,
Ganguly's innings would emerge as only the second best. But he
too played his part admirably. With Sehwag setting the stadium
alight, it was imperative for Ganguly to play the anchor role. It
was a pretty selfless gesture, for it is well known that Ganguly
too is second to none when it comes to 'murdering' the bowling.
With an asking rate of 5.4 runs an over, a good start was a must
and Ganguly curbed his natural instincts to play a supporting role
to Sehwag on the latter's great day. But once the match was in
the bag, Ganguly leapt like the veritable tiger on his prey and
finished the match in double quick time with a series of
enthralling strokes and big hits.
© CricInfo |
For all the pounding that the bowlers took from Blackwell and
company late in the innings, the outstanding work done initially
by Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, when placed in proper
perspective, was one of the factors behind the emphatic
victory. Again, the four main bowlers did what was expected
from them but the 66 runs conceded in 11 overs by the nonregular bowlers is something to cause concern.
Also of some concern was Dravid's showing behind the stumps.
Are the pressures of keeping wickets and also being one of the
main batsmen in the side finally telling on him? It is a question
the team management would do well not to just brush under the
carpet.
On Sunday's showing, the Indians must be termed favourites
against South Africa. Sure, the opposition will be stronger but
then the Indian batsmen's confidence will be sky high, though,
the bowlers will again have to rise to the occasion for India to
make their second successive entry into the ICC Champions
Trophy final. They did defeat South Africa, then the reigning
champions, in 2000. A repeat performance cannot be ruled out.