Sehwag's a match-winner but his T20 record is not great
Sehwag's a match-winner but his T20 record is not great
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Virender Sehwag's shoulder injury may have caused ripples in the Indian team but to be fair to the player, he may have genuinely believed that he would cope with it during a two-week tournament. However, the critical question is whether Sehwag's absence for Delhi Daredevils during the Indian Premier League last month had an alarming effect on the selectors.
Sehwag's absence from a function to announce a tie-up between Delhi Daredevils and Nashua Titans in Centurion during the closing stages in the tournament provided the first hint that all was not right. When a journalist learnt that Sehwag had visited a clinic in Johannesburg to get his shoulder examined, he approached Nitin Patel (Mumbai Indians physio, but still the India physio) for a confirmation. Patel initially gave the impression that he was unaware of Sehwag's visit but emphasised later that the player was fine. Though Sehwag figured in the IPL semi-final, the fact that he missed a few matches during the tournament should have made the selectors alert.
Clarity
One of the reasons for Dilip Vengsarkar's successful stint as chairman of selectors was his insistence on clarity with regards to players' fitness and form. When Vengsarkar discovered Irfan Pathan's form was too bad for him to continue being in India's tour party in South Africa, 2006, he sent him home to play domestic cricket. And when India surrendered the Test series to South Africa, despite enjoying all the pre-requisites to win the third Test Cape Town and win the first ever Test series in the Rainbow Nation, chairman Vengsarkar slammed paceman Munaf Patel for hiding an injury. "If players are unfit, they are letting the Indian team down. And Munaf did just that, he was not 100 per cent fit."
When MiD DAY spoke to the former great in London yesterday to ask him what he thought about the Sehwag issue, he said: "I don't know what has transpired in this case. But generally, it is very important to know from the physio the nature of the injury and how long would it take to heal. Then, you've got to ask the player if he is fit enough to play. Ultimately, you have to believe the player."
Asked how much of a blow would Sehwag's absence be to Team India, Vengsarkar, who picked India's 2007 World T20 squad, said: "Sehwag is a great player who can take the game away from the opposition in a few overs. Plus, he can bowl a bit so there will be a void to fill. However, this Indian team has options and are playing good cricket to retain the trophy."
With due respect to Sehwag's awesome ability, he has not been a super hit in the shortest form of the game.
In 12 T20 internationals, he has scored 223 runs at 20.27. He had a mediocre return in the 2009 Indian Premier League with 198 runs from 11 matches at 19.80 with just one half-century.
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