Timing is key to Sehwag’s genius

He is effortless, with sublime timing, destructive, often able to score 10-plus in an over, puts the bowlers under severe pressure until they crack. He hits sixes as though the ground is only the size of a postage stamp.

I would often sit in front of the computer with Sehwag’s innings on the biomechanics screen searching for the weakness, looking for the line and the length that would give him most difficulty. In the end we settled for a short ball targeted into his chest; while it stunted his scoring, we didn’t get him out this way.

Early on in his innings his strength is his weakness. The short ball swinging away but on a tight line to the off stump might induce a nick to the slip cordon, if he tries to hit it harder it often flies over the slip cordon or if you are lucky he drags the ball off the inside edge onto the stumps. They are not conclusive ways of bowling to him, however.

What makes him so good? He follows the most important basic principle of batting: he is still when the ball is released and is therefore able to judge length early and then make the shot timorously without flaw. His balance when he hits the ball is a joy for any coach to study as he transfers his weight perfectly, makes contact with an ability to hit the ball extremely hard but look as though he is just caressing it.

It is the wonderful gift of timing, pure timing, that makes him so dangerous.

When I watch him he seems to have no regard for a bowler, it is the presence of a man who does not believe he can get out. Viv Richards had it, Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards had it and Adam Gilchrist has it.

Yet Sehwag’s results in ODIs are significantly poorer than his Test match record. The white ball is not his favourite; he plays differently as though he is a loose cannon, his discipline that he shows in the multi-day game seems to go out of the window and it looks as though he is in a competition to see how far and how often he can hit a boundary.

While still very dangerous he gives the bowler more chances, I guess that is also the nature of the game. It is interesting, though, why he cannot just bat normally for 45 of the 50 overs as he is such a good player that he would still ensure a big score.

He is so confident in his ability that he was quoted assaying that if he had not been run out he would have won the game for India at Bangalore. We shall never know if that would have been the case. He was certainly a threat and Inzamam delayed his declaration because of that threat. (PTI)