Why Virender Sehwag is wrong for regretting not getting a farewell game

The dasher is at it again. Be it television channels, newspapers, online media and even social media. Virender Sehwag seems to have gotten out of some sort of prison ever since he announced his retirement from international cricket, as he has become very active on his Twitter page too, tweeting in both English and Hindi, whatever his mood be. Well, Sehwag’s fan base loves every single bit of it, as there is not a single moment when the dashing batsman fails to overawe. Amid all this, Sehwag has also bared his heart out on the pain of not getting a farewell match, which he strongly believes is a right of every international cricketer, irrespective of the number of appearances. ALSO READ: Virender Sehwag’s outburst after retirement irks Indian selectors

Sehwag appeared on the TV show Aap Ki Adalat on India TV, which was aired on Saturday night. The interview was indeed mesmerising for many, including this writer who too remains awestruck over the cricketers’ straight-forward talks, audacity and character. Sehwag touched upon various topics, which includes his strong defense of MS Dhoni, his comments on how media and Indian public should behave with their cricketers, and much more.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

The platform was ideal: a Hindi news channel telecasting Sehwag’s interview on a Saturday night would have had many viewers watching across the globe. Sehwag was bombarded with many questions, and one of them demanded him to elaborate on what he felt on cricketers getting farewell games. It must be remembered that Sehwag wasn’t speaking on the topic for the first time on India TV; there were earlier reports about the cricketer being unhappy on not getting a farewell match. ALSO READ — Virender Sehwag: Had I played more against Pakistan I would have scored 10,000 Test runs

Interestingly, his childhood coach AN Sharma said in between that Sehwag never wanted a farewell match.

Sehwag told during the show, “Had the selectors told me that they were going to drop me, I could have requested them to allow me to play my last Test in Delhi and then announce my retirement, but they did not give me that opportunity. A sort of sadness shall always remain in my mind that I was not allowed to retire while playing, but anyway, it’s all a part of life for a sportsman, who, while playing, never realises when he should retire, but he starts thinking about it when he is dropped.”

Now, here is the catch: there is not a single cricketer who wants to go out without a swansong. Every cricketer deep down in the heart wishes that he gets to leave the game on his terms, amid his fans and family, soaking in the occasion which would be as memorable for his rest of the life as his first game would have been.

Sehwag isn’t wrong in wishing for the same, indeed, a farewell game for him would have been a fitting end to a fantastic career. But there are contradictions. Sehwag says he would have retired after the fourth Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2013, had the selectors spoken to him about the future. But back in 2013, he had actually pledged to fight and return to the Indian cricket team!

Here is the first question: Why would the selectors speak to a cricketer about his ‘future plans’ when they are dropping him because of poor form? Sehwag was 34 when he was axed, and he still had, if not a lot, significant cricket left in him. It was just the matter of runs, which weren’t coming with the ease and consistency that they used to.

Second question: Sehwag had vowed to make a comeback and fight for place. He had sparks of brilliance in the Ranji Trophy as well as in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last two years, but nothing major that could win back the heart of the selectors. He kept getting drifted away and the others grabbed chances. If Sehwag was serious about his comeback, why, during the same time, he wanted to retire from international cricket?

Perhaps only Sehwag can answer these questions.

As said earlier, there is nothing wrong in a cricketer wanting a farewell match amid the fanfare. But if there have to be farewell games, cricketers who leave the game when they are on a high have greater chances of getting them.

Sehwag’s comments have been interesting and perplexing at the same time. There is an obvious pain which every person can feel who understands the game of cricket. But to expect farewell matches especially when a player is not doing well may not be the idea that selectors and cricket boards would entertain.

(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)