Without fear, Viru’s come into his own
There is a secret to Virender Sehwag's fearlessness, a trait that resides in all those who are happy to live with risk; or indeed risk as most of us perceive it
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
There is a secret to Virender Sehwag's fearlessness, a trait that resides in all those who are happy to live with risk; or indeed risk as most of us perceive it. Sehwag is not afraid of getting out. It doesn’t mean he is lackadaisical or that batting is a reckless, momentary pursuit. It is just that his mind is free from the fear of defeat, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express.
My guess is that he now has a greater variety of shots, especially on the leg side. He always flicked the ball well off his pads but could be kept quiet by the ball that bounced into his rib cage. Now he seems to have a couple of shots for balls in that area. First, the trademark straight jab through mid-wicket, a shot achieved through his incredible bat speed. But more important, when it gets higher, he has started pulling the short ball. And anything that comes off the middle of the bat and achieves decent elevation goes out of the ground in New Zealand anyway! I also suspect he is being given the space that every performer needs.
In the Hindu, S Ram Mahesh is also of the opinion that Sehwag has "transformed his batting with the addition of pull stroke".
The pull stroke is a versatile, valuable weapon, and in cultivating the stroke, Sehwag hasn’t merely added a dimension — he has transformed forever his batting. As he said with typical economy of words, “They are bowling into my body and I’m playing my pull shot to get boundaries. There is no other way they can bowl to me.”
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo