This
little snippet is inspired from the on-air
conversation Robin Jackman and Ravi Shastri
were having during the Indian run chase, about
Sehwag's role in the middle-order. It seems
like a dream come true for someone going back
to the position he once started, but would it
affect the team as such ? I for one do not
think so. Gautam
Gambhir has done all he could to convince
the selectors about his potential in the
shorter version of the game, especially after
being branded as a "test" player. And if he
does play in the team, the only position he
could cling onto would be the opening berth,
especially with
Tendulkar showing glimpses off and on of
his golden days.
Ravi
Shastri rightly hit the nail on the head by
pointing out that "India have often lost
matches because of initial top-order failures.
If they can have someone with the experience
and the threat of Sehwag, they are still in
the hunt". Absolutely, I must say. The only
drawback of such a potential move could only
be as Jackman raised "Sehwag at No. 4 could
potentially break-up one of the most dangerous
opening partnerships (along with Sachin) in
International Cricket". Whatever the
consequences, if Chappell,
Dravid and
Indian cricket are comfortable with this very
move, they should stick with it simply because
they have a left-handed opener, who is as
aggressive as Sehwag or as Sandeep Patil says
"Gambhir is even more aggressive as compared
to Dhoni
!", so it evens out, as India have lost
nothing and instead gained a specialist opener
and more importantly, some hope and experience
in the form of Sehwag in the middle-order.
For all you know and think about, this could
be another move of experimentation in
Chappell's chessboard. So folks, as spectators
and fans of the game, all we can do is keep
guessing until the next time...