Sehwag and OTHERS

Recently cricinfo search showed up 3 names in the popular category , Nepal, Sehwag and Raman Lamba.


Sehwag had to be the top searched both on cricinfo and twitter because of the NO Ball. Lots of people would have already started following him on twitter and he would probably be next to Sachin on that list.

Nepal ? , dont have a clue to what is happening in that country after the Maoists took over the reins. In the cricket world , Nepal became famous at the expense of Singapore ( cricket ?? !!) when the crowd disturbance gave Nepal the victory which rightfully should have been Singapore's.


Raman Lamba is probably one of the interesting searches that cricinfo has shown. His approach was comparable to Sehwag only in terms of attitude , skill levels were possibly half of Sehwag besides that both hail from the same place DELHI. He was considered an attacking batsman who could treat mediocre bowling with disdain and get out to quality bowling to the familiar weakness of outside off stump. His white cap and skull protector were visibly conspicuous a la Sunil Gavaskar. His record on cricinfo which I just searched, a 27 average and a strike rate of 65 odd is nothing great to write home about. His attitude stood out in times when attacking batsmen were rare and I can still remember him dancing down the wicket to Simon O' Donnell after Mcdermott's spell got over.


RL could possibly be compared with Kris Srikkanth who was renowned for the 36 in the WC final in which the cover drive and the pull shot will forever be remembered. But probably one of the better shots was the cover drive he played in Sharjah of the same bowler in one of the tournaments in the 80s and the bowler got through his defences the very next ball.

It is easy to remember the more famous attacking batsmen but the forgotten heroes are the ones who are difficult to track and cricinfo provides excellent information provided you know what you are searching for .

In the Indian team , this genre of batsmanship was rare until India won the WC in 1983 and some people who did that quite consistently for their domestic teams were Surinder Khanna . Not many people remember this person and he was a wicket keeper and a good attacking batsman. He played for India in the inaugral Asia cup in 1980s and opened with Ghulam Parkar. That Asia cup team which India won had a rookie bowling attack led by Chetan Sharma ( no Kapil mind you !! ) and had SK and GP opening and Gavaskar at No :4. Like Raman Lamba, he could make mincemeat of the lesser known bowlers ( SL and Pak had bowling of that kind ) and the Asia cup scores showed that.

Do you guys remember another gentleman called ATUL BEDADE. He appears now as a selector for BARODA and was on the wrong books of I&Y Pathan. He was short much like Sehwag had a nice swing of the bat and could deposit the ball into the stands in domestic cricket quite regularly. His Indian team exploits were nothing too great to write about, but he played one innings of 40 odd against Pakistan in Sharjah with almost nobody else for company. The Pak attack included Akram and Aaqib at that time and he was an ideal 20-20 player who could give you a 20 odd in 5 balls.

This blog wouldnt be complete if we dont mention KIRTI AZAD , who had the ability to hit the long ball without much effort. I still remember the innings he played against Pakistan in Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi where the shots were crisp and the golf swings were really taking off ( literally !! ). He became more famous in the WC 83 team for his bowling exploits and could bat at no : 7 after Kapil and in the SF of 83 did India a great favor by taking out Ian Botham with his off spin.

An uncluttered mind , a great eye and the ability to stand still in the crease till the ball is delivered is what Sehwag does today and probably the batsmen of the yesteryears were too concerned of the downsides of shot making which got into their head many a time & resulted in truncated undistinguished careers of say a BEDADE or a KHANNA . No wonder Sehwag has
been selected for the CRICINFO All time XI alongside Sunil Gavaskar as the opener and probably would make the World XI as an opener as well displacing Sunil Gavaskar.