[ad_1]
Former India wicket-keeper batsman Ajay Ratra believes the credit score for Virender Sehwag’s promotion as an India opener must be shared between former captain Sourav Ganguly and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
“Sachin was doing so well as an opener at that time but Sehwag had to open. So Sachin offered to bat at No.4. Sehwag then opened with Dada (Sourav Ganguly) for that left and right combination. If Sachin hadn’t agreed then Viru probably would have had to bat lower. He wouldn’t have got the chance to open in ODIs and the story could have been a lot different,” stated Ratra in an unique chat with Hindustan Times.
Ganguly was sort of pressured to give you an out of the field thought of opening with Sehwag in 2001. Tendulkar was out with an harm and India’s again was in opposition to the wall after dropping the primary couple of matches of the tri-series to Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The experiment of Yuvraj Singh or Amay Kurasiya at the highest fell flat on its face and Sehwag’s returns in the middle-order, a place in which he had batted his complete life for Delhi together with age-group cricket, had been unsatisfying, to say the least.
READ | ‘India never had a fast bowler’: Kapil Dev reveals incident that spurred him to become a fast bowler
July 26, 2001, in opposition to New Zealand, India’s third match of the tri-nation collection was when Ganguly determined to play the gamble. Sehwag was promoted to open the innings in an ODI for the primary time.
India misplaced that match too as they failed to chase a under par complete. The arduous hitter from Najafgarh scored 33 runs off 54 balls, the best rating of India’s innings.
After two extra failures at the highest, Sehwag scored a blistering 70-ball hundred to information India to victory in opposition to the Kiwis. That hundred gave beginning to Sehwag the opener and rebirth to Sehwag the worldwide cricketer.
But the issues for India had solely begun. Sachin was again for the subsequent tri-series in South Africa and Sehwag was demoted to the middle-order.
Sehwag was again opening the innings halfway via the six-match residence collection in opposition to England, the place Ratra additionally made his ODI debut as India’s wicket-keeper. Scores of 51, 82, 42, and 31 in opposition to England had been sufficient to present Sehwag’s mettle as an opener.
All this whereas, Sehwag was opening with Tendulkar and Ganguly was batting at No.3. The left and proper mixture of Ganguly and Tendulkar did wonders for India for the final three-four years. A wise factor can be to at least keep the left-right combo if not the identical pair. But who would ask the world’s greatest batsman to bat down the order?
“Sachin took a different role. He volunteered to bat at No.4.He did it for the side. His role was then to bat till the 45th over. And the move worked, Viru became so successful at the top,” stated Ratra, who was a part of the Indian facet when all of the transition at the highest was going down in 2002.
Sachin began to bat No. 4 in India’s tour to the West Indies with Sehwag opening the innings with Ganguly. The similar mixture continued in the NatWest tri-series in England, which India gained by beating the hosts in the epic ultimate at Lord’s and even in the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, which India had been the joint-winners of, together with the hosts.
Sachin, nevertheless, was again at the highest earlier than the 2003 World Cup. But by then Sehwag had cemented his place as an opener.
“A lot of the times, Viru is called unconventional but if his natural instinct was stopped then it might have been a different story. So Viru had the support to go for his shots and had that liberty. It is very important to back these players. Yes, people used to advise him when he used to play bad shots but he was never told to change his game,” Ratra added.
Between 2001 and 2007, Sachin batted at No.4 19 instances to enable Sehwag to open the innings.
Sehwag retired as one among India’s most profitable openers in each Tests and ODIs. He has performed 214 ODIs out of his 221 matches as an opener scoring 7518 runs, which is greater than 90% of his profession combination of 8273 runs. 14 out of Sehwag’s 15 ODI a whole lot got here whereas opening the batting for India.
[ad_2]
Source link