Sehwag caught in crossfire

India middle-order batsman Virender Sehwag is making news for all the wrong reasons barely a month after arriving as a Test batsman.

The stocky 23-year-old achieved the rare feat of scoring a Test century on debut in the first Test in South Africa to be hailed by fans in his cricket-crazy country as their latest hero.

But hardly a month later, he has become the centre of a major crisis raging in the game because of a confrontation between his national cricket board and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

His selection in the squad for the first Test against England starting on Monday, despite an ICC ruling that he is ineligible to play after receiving a one-match ban during the second Test in South Africa, has brought the soft-spoken player into the spotlight.

A natural stroke-maker who hits the ball hard, Sehwag was perhaps the happiest cricketer in the world when he scored 105 on debut. The innings was all the more special as he joined his idol Sachin Tendulkar to stage a rare Indian batting fightback overseas.

Tendulkar played the elder statesman to perfection at the first Bloemfontein Test as he shared a 220-run partnership with Sehwag, whose shot-making mirrors that of the Indian master.

But in the very next Test, Sehwag was given a one-match ban and four team mates were fined for excessive appealing by match referee Mike Denness. Tendulkar was given a suspended one-match ban for cleaning the ball without the umpire's permission.

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After India refused to accept Denness as referee for the third Test, the ICC stripped the game of its official status but India and South Africa went ahead with the game. The BCCI asked Sehwag to be kept out to press its claim the game was official and that it had honoured the ICC referee's decision.

The Delhi player hit the seventh fastest one-day hundred in Sri Lanka in August, opening the innings in place of an injured Tendulkar. The similarity of shots and the aggression drew immediate comparisons with his mentor.

Sehwag, nicknamed "Najafgarh's Tendulkar" by his friends in the Delhi suburb, has won support from former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad, who said he would be shaken by the controversy around him.

"Sehwag should not react at all. He should be calm and quiet, concentrating on cricket and leave all the issues for the ICC and BCCI to handle," the former Test opener told Reuters.

Gaekwad said youngsters did tend to overdo appealing but he felt a warning by the match referee before punishment could have helped to avoid the entire controversy.

Constant appealing is a way of life on slow, spinner-friendly sub-continent pitches where close-in fielders crouch ready to snap up the slightest of deflections and go up in a chorus of appeal when they think they have their man.

Describing the current row as a "clash of egos" between the BCCI and ICC officials, Gaekwad called upon the Indian board to take initiative and end the crisis to help the players.

He said that Sehwag should not be disheartened by the turn of events. "It (missing a Test) can happen with injury as well, and he should think like that and get over it," he said.

Sehwag's graduation from one-day cricket to Test has been rapid. Now he will have to draw upon all his powers of concentration as a quality batsman to survive the off-field crossfire.

Mail Cricket Editor