It comes as no surprise when Virender Sehwag says Indian team “don’t need a batting coach.” After all, the former dashing opener never really believed in the coaching manuals and he even apologised to those who tried to advise him, in his retirement statement.
Sehwag, who was in Chennai to promote the Tamil Nadu Premier League, said he had a reason. “Coach should be a friend, not a coach. And at international level, all you need is a friend who can motivate you. Technique doesn’t matter. If you know how to score runs, you can perform in any format,” said Sehwag adding that he wouldn’t be interested to be part of India’s support staff.
“I don’t have time,” said the straight-talking cricketer.
The 37-year-old, who retired last year, said Anil Kumble was the perfect choice to take Indian cricket forward. “He is the most positive person I have ever met. He never gives up and our team will learn a lot from him,” he added.
Sehwag said Kumble’s biggest challenge would come in the near future when England and Australia tour India. “Let’s see how they cope with pressure up against better sides. At the moment, England are playing their best cricket. I would love to see India beat England 4-0 like they performed against the visiting South Africa last year,” Sehwag said.
There are three players — Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and K.L. Rahul — vying for the openers’ role in the current squad and Sehwag said it’s good to have a healthy competition. “I am confident that the captain and coach pick the best choice. India always had this three-way fight whenever we went overseas. Talking about combinations, Sourav Ganguly wanted to play with seven batsmen, while Rahul Dravid went with five bowlers. Captains think differently,” he said.
Sehwag said rough patches are part and parcel of a cricketer’s career and hoped Cheteshwar Pujara would bounce back strongly. “Even the likes of Sachin and Dravid went through lean patches. There was a phase of nine Test matches where Dravid had just scored one or two fifties, but he recovered and scored five centuries in six-seven matches,” said Sehwag.
The advent of T20 has changed the approach of modern-day batsmen. Sehwag said he wouldn’t be surprised if someone went on to break his record of the highest individual score (319) by an Indian. “There are so many players who are capable of doing that. You just need one and a half days,” he said.
While the entire cricket fraternity is going gaga over the advent of pink ball and day-night Test cricket, Sehwag doesn’t see more crowd coming to watch because of the different colour ball. “It’s the game that brings the crowd, not the ball,” he signed off.
