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."
Sehwag has had an exceptional career. He's been the most dangerous
batsman in world cricket for a long time
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.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell is now a cricket commentator and columnist
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