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Can the BCCI
demotion do the trick for Viru? |
A Feature by Syed Ahsan Ali
on June 18, 2007
 Indian
cricket board took some hard and bitter
steps to wake few giants up out of their
slumber. Included in this list of
demoted celebrities - Sehwag, Harbhajan,
Pathan, and Laxman. If you review the
positions of these four players, three
names will automatically pose their
reasons for being demoted. Harbhajan had
the long shadows of Jumbo over his
playing career. He had always been
compared to the experienced and wily
Kumble umpteenth times. This could,
should and might have disturbed the
Turbanator to cement his place in Indian
side.
Now come and try to find reasons for
Laxman’s downfall in Indian pedigree.
Too many middle order stars with huge
credentials and the colossal stature to
compete may have tired Laxman in his
strides. If you ask me, to find a place
in Indian middle order has to be the
toughest job in World cricket with the
presence of Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid,
Yuvraj even if you are as good as Laxman.
Then his withering fitness standards
especially in One Day cricket also posed
big questions. So Laxman has his
reasons. Then comes the turn of Pathan.
Indian cricket has been fighting with
this malady from quite sometime now.
Malady of not nurturing fast bowlers
fairly well. Probably modest resources
in bowling department put too many
pressures on one or two individuals
which tarnished the prospects of
youngsters to grow and learn. Balaji,
Nehra, Pathan all came and went away
which needs to be looked at if India
wants to win matches abroad as well.
Then huge pressures of keeping the
momentum going at any cost with limited
support from the other end with billion
hopes of making India win matches which
could have collapsed even the most
strongest of nerves beating Pathan’s as
well.
 But
what went wrong with Sehwag? Nobody
knows. He was at the top of his game.
The biggest crowd puller at that time
when Sachin, Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni
are all serving the same team, but you
earn the most votes for your
performances. I saw no point in losing
that when you were almost peaking. You
mauled Australia in Australia on bouncy
tracks, and then you nailed Pakistan in
Pakistan for the first time in Indian
cricket history. You became the first
man to score a triple hundred from
India, the land which is famous for its
batting talent. And then you lost
everything. What are the reasons behind
this shocking slump? Too much
complacency. Too much celebrity stature.
Or too much job security. It can be bit
of all three or may be something else.
But this has to be addressed. Otherwise
Indian team is almost on the verge of
losing one ballistic cricketer for some
minor mental blocks. This demotion will
not help him either. It will take him
further back in the abyss of uncertainty
and despondency.
Sehwag for me is the biggest
disappointment of Indian cricket in the
last couple of years. There are
cricketers who can never reach their
true potential. There are instances
where cricketers geared up little late
but do get there with three or four
international seasons like Sarwan and
Jayawardene, but when you achieve so
much in so little time you have too many
things to bank on.
Sehwag has talent, big scores under his
belt, no fear facing world class
bowlers, match winning ability and
recognition from every corner then he
should make a comeback because he knows
he can do it. At least his figures
suggest that. If they can suggest it to
us then it should suggest the same to
him as well. Let’s pray this demotion
will do a trick for him. India
definitely needs a player of his flair.
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