As a schoolboy growing up, I remember writing things on my bedroom door, in lieu of the posters I was unable to stick on my walls for one reason or another. Most of them were quotes from Batman (I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!), Wolverine (I’m the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn’t very nice!), or some other comic book or cartoon character. But right at the bottom of the door, I remember writing two lines meant to be motivational: “Be cool like MSD” and “Keep it simple like Viru.” READ: Virender Sehwag retires (officially) from international cricket and IPL
Simplicity
Sehwag was nothing if not simple. Some players —whether bowlers or batsmen — tend to plan, counter-plan, and try and out-think the opposition. Sehwag could not be out-thought because it was just a matter of putting bat to ball to boundary. You could not possibly out-plan something as simple as that. Bowlers tried. They usually failed. I remember him say once on TV, “If you bowl 10 balls to me outside the off stump, I will hit nine of them to the boundary and get out off one. But for the fear of getting out once I will not let go of those nine boundaries.”
Sehwag played for the fun of the game. He never took himself seriously, and took the opposition even less seriously. He once said of Bangladesh, “They can’t beat us in Test matches. They can surprise you in ODIs, but not in Tests because they can’t take 20 Indian wickets… Bangladesh can’t. They are an ordinary side.”
How can you possibly argue with that? READ: Virender Sehwag retires: Transcript of farewell message
Songs
It has become an urban legend — one which is possibly true — that Sehwag sang songs regularly while batting. Suresh Raina attested to the fact that Sehwag was singing Kishore Kumar songs en route to his 219 against West Indies at Indore in 2011. Whether literal or figurative, Sehwag certainly played with a song on his lips. He could hit a rank long hop to midwicket, and he could hit a swinging yorker bowled at 145kmph past point.
Sehwag would have made an appalling diplomat. The filter that most Humans have between their thoughts and their words is nonexistent in him. After winning Man of the Match in the opening clash of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Sehwag nonchalantly said, “Everyone had a good match except Sreesanth (who had bowled five overs for 53 in India’s 87-run win).” This was the man who had not heard of Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad. On being asked about his thoughts on the pitch during a Test in England, Sehwag replied that he had not yet bothered to check. When the surprised journalist asked him why not, Sehwag replied “What difference does it make?”
There will never be another Sehwag. READ: Virender Sehwag: He revolutionised the art of opening the batting
Savage yet serene
There is very little that can be written about Sehwag’s batting that has not been said before. For all his simple-minded calmness at the crease, he was a demon with the bat. It did not matter if you were Shafiul Islam bowling the first ball of a World Cup (Sehwag started off ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 with a boundary) or Tim Southee bowling the first over of a home series (Sehwag hit the first three balls he faced in New Zealand in 2009 for sixes). Sehwag’s single-minded approach to batting made even the best bowlers look for cover.
Picking out a ‘favourite’ Sehwag innings is not remotely possible. Would it be the 319 against a South African attack comprising Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel, Jacques Kallis, and Paul Harris? How about the 309 at Multan? Surely the 293 — 284 of which came in one day — against Sri Lanka at Brabourne? Or would it be the unbeaten 201 on a turning Galle track where the rest of the team barely crossed 100 among them?
Sehwag was one of a kind. There might be batsmen who can hit the ball longer and harder, and there might be others who can play spin better (“I don’t consider a spinner as a bowler. I never did,” said our hero once), but there will never be someone who can do it while whistling his favourite songs with the sole intention of having a good time at the expense of those poor idiots sending down ball after ball after boundary. READ: Virender Sehwag: The anti-serious bids adieu
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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