Bengaluru: It’s hard to fathom Virender Sehwag playing with anything less than total conviction. At least that’s the way it comes across. Regardless of who was running in from the non-striker’s end or the magnitude of the situation, it made scant impact as the opener met it all with a stoic face and a punishing swing of his bat. How the ball used to rocket off the blade!
He has inspired millions but what about the man that inspired the inspiration?
“When I was a kid I watched (J. Arun Kumar) play Ranji Trophy and I thought I would one day play with or against JAK,” said Sehwag during the inauguration of Kumar’s high performance cricket centre, Cricket Beyond Technique, on Thursday.
“I was lucky enough to share the dressing room with him (during their days at Indian Airlines) and learn from him. When I started playing for India and Sourav Ganguly asked me to open the innings I always remembered how he played — used the power play to score heavily. One thing I always remembered him say is you should play more balls during power play. I used that at the international level,” he revealed.
Now, increasingly well known for his straight drives on Twitter, the 38-year-old, who represented Indian in 104 Tests and 251 ODIs, still remembers when the penny dropped for him at the international level.
“Rahul Dravid told me ‘to score big you have to score big’. The 195 in Melbourne, then the triple hundred in Pakistan, that’s when I got the respect from everyone. Everywhere I went people recognised me as the man who scored the first triple century for India,” he remarked.
While skills and frills are major components for success, JAK also stressed on the importance of working on the mental side of the game and backing one’s own ability.
“Over the years I have realised what takes a person to another level is beyond technique. It has a lot to do with the psychological factors and the fears you face as you grow in your career,” said the former Karnataka coach.
“Sehwag is here because, when he played for India A, just before playing a Test series against South Africa, lot of people pressurised him to change his game. But he just backed his abilities. But how often do you back your abilities?”
