Related Links : Virender Sehwag : Afro-Asia Cup 2007
Indian cricket board took some hard and bitter steps to wake few giants up out of their slumber. Included in this list of demoted celebrities – Sehwag, Harbhajan, Pathan, and Laxman. If you review the positions of these four players, three names will automatically pose their reasons for being demoted. Harbhajan had the long shadows of Jumbo over his playing career. He had always been compared to the experienced and wily Kumble umpteenth times. This could, should and might have disturbed the Turbanator to cement his place in Indian side.
Now come and try to find reasons for Laxman’s downfall in Indian pedigree. Too many middle order stars with huge credentials and the colossal stature to compete may have tired Laxman in his strides. If you ask me, to find a place in Indian middle order has to be the toughest job in World cricket with the presence of Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj even if you are as good as Laxman. Then his withering fitness standards especially in One Day cricket also posed big questions. So Laxman has his reasons. Then comes the turn of Pathan. Indian cricket has been fighting with this malady from quite sometime now. Malady of not nurturing fast bowlers fairly well. Probably modest resources in bowling department put too many pressures on one or two individuals which tarnished the prospects of youngsters to grow and learn. Balaji, Nehra, Pathan all came and went away which needs to be looked at if India wants to win matches abroad as well. Then huge pressures of keeping the momentum going at any cost with limited support from the other end with billion hopes of making India win matches which could have collapsed even the most strongest of nerves beating Pathan’s as well.
But what went wrong with Sehwag? Nobody knows. He was at the top of his game. The biggest crowd puller at that time when Sachin, Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni are all serving the same team, but you earn the most votes for your performances. I saw no point in losing that when you were almost peaking. You mauled Australia in Australia on bouncy tracks, and then you nailed Pakistan in Pakistan for the first time in Indian cricket history. You became the first man to score a triple hundred from India, the land which is famous for its batting talent. And then you lost everything. What are the reasons behind this shocking slump? Too much complacency. Too much celebrity stature. Or too much job security. It can be bit of all three or may be something else. But this has to be addressed. Otherwise Indian team is almost on the verge of losing one ballistic cricketer for some minor mental blocks. This demotion will not help him either. It will take him further back in the abyss of uncertainty and despondency.
Sehwag for me is the biggest disappointment of Indian cricket in the last couple of years. There are cricketers who can never reach their true potential. There are instances where cricketers geared up little late but do get there with three or four international seasons like Sarwan and Jayawardene, but when you achieve so much in so little time you have too many things to bank on.
Sehwag has talent, big scores under his belt, no fear facing world class bowlers, match winning ability and recognition from every corner then he should make a comeback because he knows he can do it. At least his figures suggest that. If they can suggest it to us then it should suggest the same to him as well. Let’s pray this demotion will do a trick for him. India definitely needs a player of his flair.