Vivek Chaudhary
When Virender Sehwag scored a century on his Test debut against South Africa earlier this month, it was fitting that the first player to congratulate him was his batting partner on the Bloemfontein wicket, Sachin Tendulkar, who himself had just hit a hundred.
Indian cricket fans and the press had already dubbed Sehwag ”the little Tendulkar”, claiming that his silky stroke play made him a worthy successor to the doyen of Indian cricket, and there was a genuine feeling of relief that an heir had been found to the batting king.
But little did Sehwag, or anyone else, realise after his 105 in that innings that in such a short space of time he would have as massive an impact on world cricket as the great Tendulkar himself. Sadly for the 23-year-old, however, Sehwag’s contribution has had nothing whatsoever to do with bat and ball.
While world cricket’s administrators have been battling it out, and threats being exchanged between India and the International Cricket Council, Sehwag has found himself inadvertently caught in the midddle of the turmoil. He is said to be distraught at having been dragged into the row and was described as being in tears during the third ”unofficial Test” between South Africa and India, when he was prevented from pursuing the one passion in his life playing cricket.
Sehwag did not attend the controversial match and sat alone in his hotel room, contemplating the situation he now finds himself in. Friends and team-mates say that he is desperate for the row to be settled, and is hurt that his name will for ever be associated with one of cricket’s most unsavoury incidents.
Sehwag was born in October 1978 and lives in Najafgarh, an industrial town just outside New Delhi. He first made a name for himself playing local cricket and represented New Delhi where he was coached by the former Indian spin king Bishan Singh Bedi. Soon after breaking into the New Delhi junior team Sehwag came to the attention of India’s national selectors.
An orthodox righthanded batsman, Sehwag was chosen for the Indian team that contested the under-19 World Cup in South Africa in 1998.
The following year Sehwag broke into the Delhi senior team, hitting 745 runs, with an average of 62,08 and India’s senior national selectors soon realised that it might be time to give him a chance to prove himself at the highest level.
With his diminutive stature and prolific run rate, Sehwag has made no secret of the fact that he has modelled his game on Tedulkar and, indeed, as the pair hit a century each in Blomfontein Indian cricket commentators claimed that it was difficult to tell the batsmen apart, given their almost identical stroke play.
Sehwag first hit the headlines in the Indian press early last year when he scored his debut century, against New Zealand, in Sri Lanka. The press and Indian cricket fans went wild as Sehwag hit seven consecutive boundaries, scoring his century off 69 balls.
Sehwag did not take part in India’s historic Test victory over Australia earlier this year because of injury, but played in some of the one-day matches. Despite his obvious talent, the selectors remained uncertain about his ability to play against non-spin bowlers and alleged that, at times, he threw his wicket away too easily.
One of Sehwag’s biggest supporters within the Indian team has been captain Sourav Ganguly, who urged the selectors to give him a longer run in the team and allow him to establish himself at Test level.
India’s tour of South Africa was supposed to be Sehwag’s chance to prove that what he had done at domestic and one-day level could be transferred to the bigger stage.
His century against South Africa was seen as a major turning point and the media and cricket fans descended on Sehwag’s house in Najafgarh to congratulate his family.
As Sehwag braces himself to be the fall guy in cricket’s civil war, he is probably also reflecting on the short international career that has had such an impact on the game.
Ironically, ”the little Tendulkar” made his one-day debut for India against Pakistan at Mohali in 1999, the very ground on which his presence on Monday, as a member of the Indian team facing England in the first Test, could severely alter the shape of international cricket.