Virender Sehwag is among the most exciting batsmen in the game and on his day magnificent to watch. But there are worrying indications that while his batting is uncomplicated, the man might be.
He is back as vice captain, and but for the meteor-like appearance of Mahendra Singh Dhoni might have been the captain in all the three formats of the game. Had he been the captain, one is convinced he would have done an excellent job. A grateful acolyte of former captain, Sourav Ganguly, Sehwag does not miss an opportunity to praise the Kolkatan, who retired from international cricket recently.
That is all very well and, in fact, something to be appreciated. But does this warrant the Najafgarh Mauler to get into cricket politics, especially the Indian variety which can be Machiavellian in its intricacies?
Speculation doing the rounds is that he has been put up to get embroiled in a controversy in which he has been highly critical of former Indian coach, the Australian Greg Chappell. Sehwag, without provocation, launched a broadside against an individual, who was a great cricketer and meant well for Indian cricket. Unfortunately, his direct methods were not taken kindly to and that he managed to get on the wrong side of Indian cricket’s bigwigs like Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar forced his exit.
It probably would have been understandable if either Ganguly or Tendulkar had to speak against Chappell, whose response to Sehwag’s unprovoked verbal assault was, ‘I have nothing to do with India and I have forgotten Indian cricket.’
Sehwag had accused Chappell of breaching confidence when he was the coach, as either the media or important members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were leaked what had been private discussions between the coach and the players. Then, to provide a personal grievance to justify his differences with Chappell, Sehwag referred to how the former had tampered with his front foot play. All right, Sehwag might be an emotional sort of person. But in this instance it seems something more and deep.
The criticism of Chappell was coupled with unbridled praise for the current coach from South Africa, Gary Kirsten. Has Kirsten, who was once known for his racist views on India, had a hand in setting up Sehwag? Or, as some people call him, the master manipulator, ‘Mahi’ Dhoni firing a salvo using Sehwag’s shoulder?
One hopes Sehwag does not have a reason to regret his utterances.
Currently rated 2.8 by 6 people
- Currently 2.833333/5 Stars.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5