The Surfer

"I wasn’t ever taught to bowl line and length, and feel like coaching is sometimes bad for you as a budding fast bowler. Raw is always good. I remember I bowled extremely waywardly in my first few games, but Imran never told me to hold back, or asked me what I was doing. These days the captain will easily get frustrated and say 'What are you doing?…I didn’t pick you for this.' But Imran told me 'I picked you to bowl fast' and that’s what I did."

Is your batting philosophy as simple as, ‘see ball, hit ball’?

Absolutely yes. If I see the ball, Ii try to hit it. As a kid, I played a lot of 10-12 over matches. I was a middle-order batsman then. I got to face only 15-16-odd balls and had to make the most of them. Since then my approach has been to score off every ball. That style has stuck with me at the international level as well.

Winning at any cost is not his philosophy. Winning was certainly important, but not by twisting the rules. He bravely took many calculated risks. While captaining Dadar Union, he would declare at 2 down 70. While his team would be wondering at his decision, he would have pocketed an outright win by tea time in the Kanga League.

Sunil Gavaskar says, “I think Vasu had the best sense of repartee that I have ever come across. He was a skipper who led from the front, always looking for ways to win a game. A terrific fielder and a hardhitting batsman, his major strengths were giving confidence to youngsters that they could beat anybody. He had endless stories and anecdotes about various players and was entertaining with a capital E. A wonderful company and a must have for after dinner speeches.”

Already, if you notice some written pieces or what the news channels are preaching, we may have already found the next Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Bishen Singh Bedi and Sachin Tendulkar/Virat Kohli, in that order. In case you cannot identify, these analogies refer to Pujara, Ashwin, Baba Aparajith, Harmeet Singh and Unmukt Chand respectively.

For once, let us then forgive this urge to draw parallels and build palaces in air. However when we exercise this right, it is then also the responsibility of each of us to help keep them grounded at all times.

The very same traits that make Sehwag the dangerous batsmen he is seem to help him in being a safe slip catcher. An ability to stay still and balanced on his feet, stay focused on the ball till the last moment and that hand-eye coordination — the reflexes he showed for the Franklin catch.

The Hyderabad Test was all about the change of guard in the Indian middle-order with the retirements of Dravid and Laxman. It was also about the restructuring of the slip-cordon that the duo had occupied for close to 15 years. And Sehwag always seemed the obvious choice to replace Dravid and stand closest to the wicket-keeper against the fast bowlers too.

Medha Apartments in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar is no more a non-descript residential complex. Overnight it has become a celebrity corner even as its most famous tenant grabs the attention of the cricket world with a fabulous feat for a teenager

Baba’s schedule had been frenetic over the past week, waking up at 4.30 on match-day mornings, watch his son in action and then get things in order as media in-charge at Uppal. He’s not been the only Baba following Aparajith’s performances keenly. Another day, Baba Indrajith — older than Aparajith by 40 minutes — would have been there alongside his twin brother in Australia.

Pietersen has been a fool. But it was instructive to see him at the Kia Oval last Tuesday, playing for Surrey against Glamorgan in the Tom Maynard tribute match. He was charm and politeness personified. He spoke generously with his opponents at such a difficult time. Of his own will, he signed hundreds of autographs. And he did not have a tense exchange of views with Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain beforehand. Rather he expressed his contrition, especially at his upsetting captain Andrew Strauss.

For the Proteas, it was a pre-series training camp and team-building exercise with a difference, led by South African-born Swiss adventurer Mike Horn. Learning to breathe steadily and hold your nerve when something rather more important than a sports result is on the line can do wonders for your ability to stay calm under sporting pressure, such as that applied by England's lower batting order at Lord's on Monday when they briefly threatened to win an "unwinnable" game.

Only occasionally did he impose himself on the opposition, only rarely did he dominate. This might have had as much to do with his temperament which was equable, affable, unselfish — whereas those who dominate (whether in attack, like Tendulkar or in defence, like Dravid) must necessarily be obsessed with the idea first. Laxman was tough, but he wasn’t obsessed with the notion of showing the bowler who was boss.

In fact, it was only because the middle order was reserved for the Big Four, that Sehwag had to convert into an opener and, thankfully for Indian cricket, his batting genius carried him through. But now, with captains and bowlers having figured out how best to bowl at him, his technique stands exposed on pace-friendly pitches. It would have made sense, therefore, to let him have VVS Laxman’s spot in the middle order where he should have been batting all along, anyway.