Once selected for a tour, Virendra Sehwag is essentially undroppable.
What I mean is with players like him it is the selectors who need to drop him for poor performance. It should not be left to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Its unfair.
The only way for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come of this unscathed was for India to win the match and once he executed on this ‘most difficult decision’ he exposed himself to criticism if India
They did lose the game and the criticism that was expressed as analysis during the match is now a full blown questioning of Dhoni’s decision making abilities.
I feel for Dhoni. The selectors are not doing their jobs and the task of managing the egos of the seniors while still trying to win games is squarely on his shoulders.
During India
I have always argued that Virendra Sehwag is more comfortable with the Test format and his consistency after a decade of LOI cricket nowhere near his Test match consistency. His career should be managed like VVS Laxman’s and preserved for Test matches.
That will require selectoral consensus, which was too much to expect from Srikkant’s team. Will Sandip Patil be any good?
Time will tell
The skill gap on paper between India and Australia
Had Sehwag played and scorched a 100, I have no confidence that our bowlers would have defended the score. Not with the rain that clearly hindered an almost all-spin attack.
I think the right thing for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to now do is to show he is flexible, get Sehwag back in the side for the must win game against Pakistan
There are a few players who are above such policies like ‘horses for courses’. Even in the most abject of forms like the one he is in right now, Virendra Sehwag is one of them.
Dhoni should be applauded for trying but in the supposed power struggle between him and Virendra Sehwag, he may have raised the stakes higher than what was necessary.
It’s better to lose with Virendra Sehwag in the team than lose by benching him
5 comments:
Im impressed that Dhoni showed some balls and dropped him. Your'e right, this is something the selectors should be doing, and not leaving it all up to Dhoni. Kudos to Dhoni, although he probably has no choice but to bring Sehwag back for the next game. Pathan was a complete misfit - the pressure building up on Gambhir and Kohli while batting with him was almost literally visible.
The grounds for dropping VS are clearly there but I think by still selecting him the selectors have clearly gambled on him firing.
From what I read today, Sehwag did not bat in the nets but that could be mind games
Tomorrow is a big day. Ind v Pak and SA v AUS
I think most of the people would agree on the rationale behind dropping Sehwag. But where people are questioning Dhoni is if he feels Sehwag is not in as good a form as his other batters then why is Irfan being made to open ? Is it because the other stars are not willing to put themselves up the order or is it some special strategy which nobody seem to understand ? Also when we all encourage sehwag to bat in his " See Ball..Hit ball" mode when he succeeds we should be quite prepared to take a few failures along the way. After all it is just Risk Vs Return .Isn't it?
What is ridiculous is that Dhoni has had to shoulder the blame of all of this alone. There doesn't seem to be a team management supporting him - what are Fletcher and the selectors doing? Contrast this with the KP fiasco - Flower and the ECB manned up to the decisions taken. Its no wonder that Dhoni is a defensive captain unwilling to make bold choices, given that he has to face the wolves alone (apologies for this being a bit off topic!)
Bala, See ball-hit ball is fine when you have Dravid, Sachin and VVS in their prime following him
Sehwag's role has to change in the new setup
He was a luxury we could afford. Now he needs to justify the investment.
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