#ThankYouSehwag: Goodbye Virender Sehwag, the maverick who revolutionised the art of batting

On Monday, Indian batting wizard Virender Sehwag announced that he would retire from international cricket on returning to India, having gone to Dubai for the launch of the Masters Champions League.

Related Read: Virender Sehwag to announce retirement from all forms of international cricket

The MCL is a cricket league composed of retired cricketers. When asked why he was joining the league, Sehwag told PTI, "If I am not retired I will not play. I will go back to India and announce my retirement."

It is unfortunate that a batsman who revolutionised the opening position in Test cricket and for more than a decade terrorised bowlers all around the world, played his last match in 2013 and had to announce his departure in such a way.

On a day that the BCCI announced the Test squad against South Africa, leaving out Yuvraj and Sehwag, and just a few days after Zaheer Khan announced his retirement, Sehwag's announcement comes as a heartbreak for many who had hoped that he would at least get a farewell series.

Long before Dhoni's men had conquered the world by winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, Virender Sehwag epitomised the new, aggressive India of the post-liberalisation era. Short on technique and temperament but blessed with Vivian Richards-esque hand-eye coordination, Sehwag set about taking apart world-class bowling attacks with an impunity that shook the cricketing world.

On his Test debut in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 2001, Sehwag scored 105 off 173 balls - in a 220-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar - outscoring his idol during certain periods of play. Earlier, Sehwag had hit a 69-ball ODI century against Sri Lanka while batting in the opening position, signalling the arrival of a new legend in Indian cricket.

It was the move to the opening slot in Test cricket that changed Sehwag's (and India's) fortunes altogether. For a batsman of his kind, opening should have been a mistake, and 'experts' at the time predicted that it would be. Instead, Sehwag amassed century after century, demolishing the world's best bowling attacks even as he defied every caricature of a Test match opener. Sehwag would often score a boundary off the first ball, a few in the first over, and play little heed to the wisdom of the old which dictated that opening batsmen should play out the first hour of play before shifting to a more attacking mould.

Moved to the top after the likes of Shiv Sunder Das, Deep Dasgupta and Sadagoppan Ramesh had all been discarded, Sehwag dramatically changed the perception that one had to be technically sound and patient to succeed as a Test opener. Incredibly, it was in the longest form of the game, and as an opener, that Sehwag found his greatest success. His style, tailor made for the shorter game, did not reap quite the same rewards in ODIs and Twenty20 internationals.

As the ranks of the naysayers began to dwindle, a new consensus emerged - would this youngster, short on technique and temperament, be able to succeed on the green wickets outside India for long? Or would he end up as a flat-track bully, consigning his legacy to the same level as many others before him who were exposed on foreign pitches?

For most of his career then, Sehwag set about proving his critics wrong over and over again. From scoring 2 centuries in India's 2-5 humbling in an acrimonious New Zealand tour, to blasting the Australian pace attack into oblivion during a frenetic 195 in Melbourne, to scoring a match-saving 151 in the second innings at Adelaide in 2008, Sehwag established that he was simply not another one of those subcontinental bullies.

But what really stood out in Sehwag was his penchant for the dangerously unusual - trying, nearly each time, to reach a century (and a double century) off a sixer, chasing targets of nearly 400 in a Test match by slamming 83 off 58 balls, trying the same shot (and getting out) the third consecutive time while he and Dravid were on the cusp of a world-record opening stand, and more.

Sehwag really validated the maxim of 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. It was amazing how his limited skill set enabled him to overcome difficulties which more gifted, far more technically sound batsmen could not overcome. 

During India's Sri Lanka tour in 2008, India's legendary batting order was struggling against a new 'mystery spinner' - Ajantha Mendis. Mendis had caused India's ignominious defeat in the first Test, and effected an Indian batting collapse in the first innings of the second as well. What made the difference was that Sehwag went hammer and tongs at Mendis and Co, scoring an unbeaten 201 out of the team's score of 329. He then made a half-century in the second innings, paving the way for an Indian victory.

But it was not merely Sehwag's terrific hand-eye coordination and take no prisoners attitude which made a successful career possible. He had a unique way of pacing his Test innings. He was brilliant on the off side and constantly on the lookout for a delivery which could be dispatched to the fence. Rather than attacking each ball (as is mistakenly believed), he waited for the one that was in a strong zone before having a go. He usually had a fairly precise idea of field placements, bowler strengths, his own role and the match situation. He used these most basic yet extremely important parameters to assess how quickly he should score, and which bowler he must target more than others. For example, after he had been dismissed for 155 against Australia at Chennai in 2004, Sehwag was asked why he had continued in an attacking vein after tea. He replied that the new ball would soon have been available to the Australians, and hence he wanted to score as many runs as possible before that happened.

It is often said that Sehwag was such an exciting player because you never knew what would happen next with Sehwag at the crease. But it seems he always had a plan. And he executed it with the least of fuss.

But the Najafgarh batsman's unique abilities which saw him become the most feared batsman in the world, also eventually led to his downfall. Periodically, he would enter long phases of poor form, play awful strokes and be criticised by all and sundry. He made some huge comebacks to the Indian side even before he went into permanent decline after the 2011 World Cup. 

Creditably - and this was another of Sehwag's great qualities - he never once looked stressed, worried or harassed during his low phases. Instead, he gave refreshingly honest interviews, steered clear of controversies, trusted his usual game and carried on. 

Ultimately however, Sehwag mirrored the great Vivian Richards - whose form and career declined after his eyesight and reflexes weakened. As Sehwag grew older and began to sport glasses, the hand-eye coordination which had been his main weapon of assault deserted him. The awe-inspiring, 'grand daddy hundreds' became rarer still. His form fell away, and in the absence of a good defensive technique to fall back on, he could never recover lost ground. His axing in 2013 was the writing on the wall, but Sehwag and his fans soldiered on, hoping for one last hurrah. Unfortunately, it never came.

But perhaps he deserved that one last day in the sun. For a sport which still values classical technique and elegant batsmanship, and a country with a different batting god, Virender Sehwag was an afterthought after he had been axed. Simply put, he was no Sachin Tendulkar. That much is clear when you consider how long a rope Tendulkar got and how well planned and executed his retirement was. One can only reflect on the injustice of it all - one batting legend exits in a farcical farewell series on tailor-made grounds, while another walks away into the sunset after having been ignored for 2 years. As they say, life is not fair. But I suspect it wouldn't matter to Virender Sehwag. He would merely shrug his shoulders and wait for the next time he can smash a bowler around the park - in the MCL.

Also Read: #ThankYouSehwag: Twitter tributes pour in for Virender Sehwag