For someone who has played cricket with an uncluttered manner, Virender Sehwag comes across as a human being who is shipshape in his approach towards life and almost always lets his willow do the talking. “I have always kept things simple,” the Delhi dasher said. Sehwag may have made batting look ridiculously easy but quiz him about his plans before any match, “I just don’t plan. I keep my mind calm. I listen to songs and even during the match, I keeping humming songs of Kishore Kumar who is a favourite and Sai Baba bhajans,” was his pat reply.
The Kishore da songs and Sai Baba bhajans might have done well to keep Viru’s mind in command, but the opposition team certainly can’t say the same as it goes out of mind setting fields for the 31-year-old.
The role of humour in the middle too plays a key role in Sehwag’s life. “I and Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) often share a joke or two during the course of an innings that keeps us in high spirits,” said Sehwag.
The right-hander who has entertained the crowd across the world for a decade now candidly admits that his approach to the game has stayed the same. “I have not changed my approach to batting. I have never gone behind a bowler’s reputation at all. If the ball is there to be hit, it has to be hit. Barring those minor adjustments from time to time, the basics of batting have stayed the same.”
Sehwag has often been accused of throwing his wicket away after getting a start, but in the first one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Rajkot, the right-hander bided his time and even when he missed a couple of deliveries in the early stages of his innings, the determination to score a biggie did not die down. “Yes, I have been in good form in the Tests but in one-dayers I was guilty of giving it away after 30s or 40s. I decided to buy my time and attack. It required me to be patient and it paid,” said Sehwag.
While this bellicose batsman’s knack of changing the course in a jiffy has already become part of the cricketing folklore, his easygoing nature too has won many plaudits. Such has been the impact of his mayhem in the middle that pundits have already begun comparing Sehwag to the legendary yesteryear batting genius West Indian Sir Vivian Richards. Well, we certainly couldn’t agree more.
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