CricDigs Blogs

He is a Destroyer!! On his day He can tear apart any bowling attack in the world!! He is a match-winner!! and so on….

Believe it or not, these adjectives are showered on none other than Virendra Sehwag. The only thing I remember he destroying recently is India’s hopes of winning a match. Nothing else. Makes you wonder what process is followed in selecting/dropping/re-selecting players and how fair it is.

Take an example of 5th ODI between India and Pakistan. India had won the series, so were giving opportunity to players who had not gotten a chance in the earlier matches. They again played with 4 full-time bowlers with part-timers bearing the responsibility of filling in the GAP.

Here is my analysis of the match.

-Pakistan managed to score 306 partly because they “destroyed” the part-time pair of Sehwag and Yuvraj.

-Newcomer Pravin Kumar bowled quite well for his figures of 10 for 50.

-India were playing additional batsman in Sehwag, so the chase should have been relatively easy, but it was not to be. Sehwag got out cheaply again and in a fashion that has become his trademark, flashing outside the off-stump without moving his feet.

-Gautam Gambhir failed again in ODIs.

-Rohit Sharma batted very well for his 52 in 61 balls.

-Pathan provided a lower order fightback.

So looking at all the above, the team selection decision should be very straight forward, right? Here is what needs to happen.

-Sehwag must be sent back until he does something that warrants his comeback. Just the mythical statements I have presented at the top of the blog are not enought, because there is not current evidence that we are talking about the same player and please note, a four or a six every now and then is not enough. He has been given ample opportunities to earn his place in the team, but at least to my eye, he has shown no sincerity, application or focus telling me that he knows what’s on the line. Sehwag has to go and for a while!!

-Gambhir still needs to stay on the bench, most of the time.

-Ganguly would continue to open with Sachin.

-Dravid needs to be brought back in the squad.

-If Pathan is in the team then India should/can play with 5 bowlers.

-Rohit Sharma needs to get more opportunities to play.

-The possible team composition could be

Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Uthappa, Pathan, RP Singh, Zaheer, Bhajji, Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Murali Karthik, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Sambhir.

Makes sense?