How can you smash back to back sixes of the first 3 deliveries of an ODI? Or score 280+ runs in the first day of a Test match? Have a strike rate in excess of 80 in Test Cricket? Get to a 300 with a six? Or get there twice and then come agonizingly close to a record breaking third, only to be dismissed caught and bowled by a delivery that you might as well have negotiated with your eyes closed!
And yet that's Virender Sehwag for you- the only cricketer who could remove all the bravado about the game and reduce it to its bare essentials- see the ball, hit the ball. That was as easy at it could get and perhaps all that was really needed.
Watching him take guard for India, alongside Sachin in the 2003 World Cup is not just some of my earliest recollections, but one of my most loved sights in the gentleman's game. For me that was- as someone has said in a different context- like having 'a surgeon at one end and a butcher at the other'. Watching the entire team crumble around him as he worked his way to 85 odd runs in the final against Australia was heart rending. Nearly everything else about his career though has been nothing short of delight.
As a much feared player who demanded singular strategies from opposition, he introduced a distinctively entertaining brand of batsmanship. With him at the crease, you always knew something was bound to happen and this very excitement associated with his game constituted the heart of sporting entertainment. Experts would throw terms like 'hand-eye coordination' to paraphrase his unique abilities. I always believed it had got to do a lot more with the way he approached life in general. As a typical Jat, born and brought up in the outskirts of Delhi, blatant straight-forwardness was his way of life. As someone who always went for the runs without ever worrying about form or conditions or opposition, one could always sense that in his batting. This inherent regret-free-no-holds-barred attitude was as much of his strength as- perhaps- his weakness.
At a time when much unchecked westernisation of societies has complicated relationships, it shouldn't be surprising that we could learn much about life and simplicity from Virender Sehwag's approach to the game of cricket. His devil-may-care attitude on the field, his blatant disregard for the conventional, his near indiffernce to landmarks, his the-ball-is-turning-and-its-too-long-to-get-old-so-let-me-just-send-it-out-of-the-park approach (FYI it did happen- in international cricket!) and above all this near non-human manner to let go of all of that at the fall of a hat are all attributes we can do well to bring into our lives.
Much has been said and much will be as he announces his retirement, in his own seemingly nonchalant manner. As unforgiving as the game is, very few are fortunate enough to say goodbye at their best on the field, fewer still bid adieu amidst all the fanfare that we saw being accorded to the very greatest of the game. Something makes me feel Sehwag was never the person who would have cared much about all of that, for theatrics and drama were never his strong suit. He wasn't a Sachin who was born to play cricket, or blessed with the unflinching commitment of a Dravid, or the leadership and flair of a Ganguly, or the much reserved masterclass that was Laxman. He was Sehwag- distinctive in his own right and yet among the very best of Indian cricket.
Hope he has all the joy and excitement in his life that he gave to all his viewers.
PS- Beta beta hota hai, baap baap hota hai. Par ye beta bhi baap se kuch kam nahi tha!
And yet that's Virender Sehwag for you- the only cricketer who could remove all the bravado about the game and reduce it to its bare essentials- see the ball, hit the ball. That was as easy at it could get and perhaps all that was really needed.
Watching him take guard for India, alongside Sachin in the 2003 World Cup is not just some of my earliest recollections, but one of my most loved sights in the gentleman's game. For me that was- as someone has said in a different context- like having 'a surgeon at one end and a butcher at the other'. Watching the entire team crumble around him as he worked his way to 85 odd runs in the final against Australia was heart rending. Nearly everything else about his career though has been nothing short of delight.
As a much feared player who demanded singular strategies from opposition, he introduced a distinctively entertaining brand of batsmanship. With him at the crease, you always knew something was bound to happen and this very excitement associated with his game constituted the heart of sporting entertainment. Experts would throw terms like 'hand-eye coordination' to paraphrase his unique abilities. I always believed it had got to do a lot more with the way he approached life in general. As a typical Jat, born and brought up in the outskirts of Delhi, blatant straight-forwardness was his way of life. As someone who always went for the runs without ever worrying about form or conditions or opposition, one could always sense that in his batting. This inherent regret-free-no-holds-barred attitude was as much of his strength as- perhaps- his weakness.
At a time when much unchecked westernisation of societies has complicated relationships, it shouldn't be surprising that we could learn much about life and simplicity from Virender Sehwag's approach to the game of cricket. His devil-may-care attitude on the field, his blatant disregard for the conventional, his near indiffernce to landmarks, his the-ball-is-turning-and-its-too-long-to-get-old-so-let-me-just-send-it-out-of-the-park approach (FYI it did happen- in international cricket!) and above all this near non-human manner to let go of all of that at the fall of a hat are all attributes we can do well to bring into our lives.
Much has been said and much will be as he announces his retirement, in his own seemingly nonchalant manner. As unforgiving as the game is, very few are fortunate enough to say goodbye at their best on the field, fewer still bid adieu amidst all the fanfare that we saw being accorded to the very greatest of the game. Something makes me feel Sehwag was never the person who would have cared much about all of that, for theatrics and drama were never his strong suit. He wasn't a Sachin who was born to play cricket, or blessed with the unflinching commitment of a Dravid, or the leadership and flair of a Ganguly, or the much reserved masterclass that was Laxman. He was Sehwag- distinctive in his own right and yet among the very best of Indian cricket.
Hope he has all the joy and excitement in his life that he gave to all his viewers.
PS- Beta beta hota hai, baap baap hota hai. Par ye beta bhi baap se kuch kam nahi tha!
