Will real Sehwag show up?

Sachin Tendulkar,the first of those shadows that walked by,is said to bat like Bradman. Now,he even shares a number that only the greats can afford to dislike. Bradman,as every plaque commemorating the man in this city will remind you,has a batting average of 99.94. Tendulkar,as every immigrant in Adelaide will remind you,has 99 international centuries. Neither,they say,looks like reaching one hundred.

A game changer

But it is,in fact,the second of those mortals that has gained recognition in the modern days game for scoring runs against every opponent with the pace and vengeance that Bradman once displayed. Virender Sehwag not quite as sandpapered on the technical edges builds innings quite like the great man himself. Not only does he have the same number of triple centuries and a 290s in Tests,but has also pushed the envelope in a Bradmanesque manner by scoring 219 in the one-day game. Unfortunately,the cricket loving Australians have seen none of it on this tour.

Its amazing how quickly Sehwag has slipped out of character in Australia,considering the last international innings he played before boarding the flight to Canberra was the aforementioned highest one-day individual score. With just two fifties in the Tests one in Melbourne and the other here in Adelaide as captain Sehwag hasnt even been a shadow of himself on this tour,let alone throwing one on the legacy of the ultimate sobriquet.

While he wasnt the singular factor,a good portion of Indias no-show during the humiliating Test whitewash was a reflection of Sehwags form. So used to the opener taking India off to fantastic starts,MS Dhonis side struggled to cope with his lean patch with the bat. When Sehwag gets us off to a start,we more often than not end up getting a great score, said Dhoni after winning his first game in the tri-series against Sri Lanka. During a chase,it leads us to a win. And if we are setting a target,that becomes bigger than the opposition would like.

While Sehwag didnt contribute to that win with the bat,Dhoni knows that without Sehwag firing at the top,the team stands little or no chance during the course of this tri-series. And with tournament just one round old,there is still plenty of time for the man from Najafgarh to walk right back into form. If he plays,that is.

With India implementing the rotational policy for this tri-series maybe the non-changing XI in the Tests has something to do with it Sehwag said that one of the top-three will sit out each of the round-robin matches until the latter stages to give the fragile middle-order enough experience to come good by the end of the tournament.

So with Sehwag having been rested for the first and Gautam Gambhir for the second,in all likelihood it will be Tendulkar who will miss the musical chair for the first of the Adelaide one-dayers against Australia on Sunday. And that means,Sehwag will have yet another chance to turn his Aussie summer into an Indian one,against Michael Clarkes men tomorrow. He showed a glimpse of it during the fourth Test here,but by then the match and the series were already dead and buried.

I scored a 60 off 50 balls here in the Tests, replied Sehwag when asked if trading his attacking instincts for a more conventional one was the cause of his downfall. Yes it is true that I tried to consciously block the ball more during the Perth Test. But that didnt work 0 and 10. So I decided to return to my normal batting style.

On Sunday,against the Aussies at the Adelaide Oval,Sehwag may not have the stage that the Test matches provided him to prove his pedigree,but neither do Bradmans bats at the airport.

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