It’s official. India’s capitulation against a New Zealand attack that can be described as average at best proves it. The weight of carrying the Indian batting, that has been shouldered single-handedly for years by Indian cricket’s most devoted servant ever, Sachin Tendulkar, has fallen on the shoulders of the one who was once touted as his protégé and clone, Virender Sehwag.
It is no secret that throughout the nineties, Indian hopes rested solely upon the stocky, diminutive right-hander from Mumbai. The exasperatingly effervescent Navjot Singh Sidhu had, for once, put it very well indeed, albeit in his irritatingly inimitable way – “The Indian team is like a bicycle stand; when one falls, all fall together.” More often than not, the ‘one’ in that statement was Sachin Tendulkar.
So central was he to India’s fortunes and aspirations that in any match involving India, when his wicket fell, a collective groan of a billion voices went up as one, and a corresponding number of television sets were switched off. Optimistic statements like, “There’s still xyz” were met with murderous glares. It was criminal to retain hope when India’s favourite son fell. The nation would go into mourning until the match faded from public consciousness.
Back in the nineties, Sachin had able sidekicks in Dravid and Ganguly, but they were the support cast, who could only assist the lead character. The 2000s were characterized by the rise of new posterboys, like Yuvraj and Dhoni, apart from Sehwag himself. Yet, Sachin has retained his leading role and is likely to continue to do so for at least another year.
Sachin is still India’s favourite son. Sehwag knows it and very well knows no matter what he does, he will never receive the same level of adulation from the fans. No one will. In any country. In any sport. Ever.
However, Sehwag’s impact on India’s fortunes today is pretty much the same, the way Sachin’s was in the nineties. While his credentials as a brilliant test batsman were never in any doubt, a fact amply reiterated by his consistently high rankings and that he is on an elite list comprising just two other members, Sir Donald George Bradman, AC, and The Hon Brian Charles Lara, TC, OCC, AM, it was his inexplicable tendency to come a cropper in limited overs cricket that made people discount him as a modern great. Today, however, it seems the time has come when in all 3 formats of the game, he is indispensable to India’s success.
Much has been written about how his manner of approaching an innings is demoralizing to the opposition but here I do not wish to make that point. Here I want to highlight the percentage contribution he consistently makes to India’s cause, particularly in victories. In the recent test series in Sri Lanka, initially it seemed little more than Sehwag versus Sri Lanka, for, not only was Sehwag the prime contributor with the bat, but he never failed to pick up a wicket in the entire series whenever he was tossed the ball. Only when the others got their act together and chipped in did India manage to pull one back and level the contest.
Test matches apart, we have seen how India has failed miserably in two successive Twenty20 World Cups, losing 6 straight Super Eight matches in the absence of Sehwag to injury. This, more than the previous example, proves how indispensable he is in all formats. India would do well to play their key men cautiously in the run up to next year’s ODI World Cup, and the loss of Sehwag we can ill afford.
Finally, more than statistics, results or anything else, public perception is the best judge of the value of the player. Television audiences most definitely halve as soon as Sehwag gets out. No, the television sets continue to play the match and all hope is not lost. People still care about the result. May be it’s a matter of time.
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