Harsha Bhogle analyses Virender Sehwag’s savage form:
I also suspect he is being given the space that every performer needs. Inherently, performers need to be happy souls; a trapeze artist worrying about his job will probably find the safety net. With Gambhir, Yuvraj and Raina batting well, Dhoni solid and reliable and Tendulkar still evergreen, Sehwag probably has the licence to play his brand of fearless cricket. And he seems to be carrying this freedom with a touch of gravity because it can be a thin line between bravery and recklessness. For Sehwag to find out how far his ability can take him, he must have the freedom to play in his style and this team, through its composition and attitude, is giving him this freedom.
This brings us back to Tendulkar’s comment that this is the best ODI batting side he has ever played with.
If one leaves Bhogle’s analysis uncontested, it appears that the great man could be right. However, Indian team’s recent successes have been on the back of a Sehwag innings, so much so one wonders whether India has fallen back to those days of crashing and burning with the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket.
The difference is that today the Indian innings gains its momentum around a Sehwag start and fails to get traction if he fails.
4 comments:
Spot on. I am waiting to see how these bravados shape up when Viru fails continuosly. I have lot of faith in our ability to collapse at short notice. I am afraid they are reading too much into this one day form.
lciss,
I agree when you write that "I am afraid they are reading too much into this one day form" albeit with a minor addition - they are reading too much into Sehwag's form.
There you have it, the famed middle order collapse in the final ODI.
lviss,
Needless to say I expected it.:)
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