IPL 10: Virender Sehwag's questionable standards

Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiant were playing an important match in Pune. The winner goes the playoffs, while the loser returns home empty-handed. The stage was set for an exciting game of cricket. But Punjab batters batted poorly, as a result of which they were bowled out for only 73 runs. None of the foreigners impressed, as Pune batsmen easily chased the target with eight overs to spare.

Kings XI’s Director of Cricketing Operations (DCO) and former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag was agitated at the team’s dismal performance. He said they lost the match due to the “irresponsibility” of the foreign batters. He even went to bash skipper Glenn Maxwell for his reckless shot-selection at a crucial stage. But there is a phrase which goes like “Practice what you preach”.

Sehwag bashed the foreign batters because of “irresponsible” batting. But if we go back down the memory lane, we will be able to remember Sehwag’s style of playing. He had no respect for the ball and mercy whatsoever. Many a time he was dismissed at crucial circumstances owing to reckless shot selection. But the team management always backed him by saying, “It is Sehwag’s style of cricket.”

Twitterati aggetated 

“Sehwag criticising Maxwell for playing like Sehwag,” wrote a user on the micro-blogging site Twitter. He certainly made a point there. Let us brush up our memories a little and go a few years back. ‘Viru’ was the captain of a strong Delhi Daredevils side for 52 matches from 2008 to 2012. In this period, Daredevils reached the semis only twice despite having a great team on paper.

The season was 2009. Delhi were playing the semi-finals (Qualifiers and Eliminator was not introduced at that time) against now dysfunctional Deccan Chargers. In a crucial match, he opted for a cheeky lap shot. The result was he was dismissed and Daredevils were left in trouble. Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match was furious at the reckless

Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match was furious at the reckless shot-selection. “You have to ask why a batsman with so much power and capability would play a shot like that. That’s not his strength, it’s his weakness.” the batting legend said. The same happened a year ago, when Delhi were playing in the semifinals against Rajasthan Royals. In both the cases, Delhi came out as losers and the winning team eventually went on to clinch the trophy.

After 2013’s IPL, Daredevils management decided to put him in the auction. He was bought by the Preity Zinta-owned team Kings XI Punjab. IPL 8 was his last as a player, where he scored just 99 runs after playing 8 matches. In the World T20 that followed, Indian team suffered due to the Sehwag’s fitness problem.

As the DCO of Kings XI, Sehwag’s decisions are highly questionable. As an injury replacement, Sehwag opted for Ishant Sharma who was unsold at the auction. Even though Sharma’s base price was Rs.2 crores, and Punjab already had many pacers like Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, T Natarajan and Sandeep Sharma in the line-up. He even went on to bash his former opening partner Gautam Gambhir who had said Ishant’s price-tag was not justifiable.

End-result? Ishant failed to pick up a single wicket in six matches. In addition to it, to add more shame to KXIP, his economy rate was around 10 runs per over. “The squad didn’t have enough firepower in the bowling department. I think Kings XI made a mistake at the auction. They should have picked a strong bowler. You can’t have guys like Ishant Sharma (wicketless in six games) playing T20 format anymore.” former cricketer Hemang Badani said.

Former Indian national team bowler Ajit Agarkar was also of the same opinion, as he said, “They never looked like a top four team. What they needed in the auction was an overseas seamer.”

No one can question Sehwag’s contribution to Indian cricket. He was undoubtedly one of the best batsmen for India. But no one criticises a ‘premium’ player for his style of cricket. After all, Maxwell is also known for destructive batting just like Sehwag. Kings XI Punjab’s batting performance against Pune was very poor. As the DCO, one expects a good performance from the entire team and especially from the skipper. But bashing someone like Sehwag did after the match may not be the best thing either.