A part of me is gone with Virender Sehwag’s retirement: Gautam Gambhir

Virender Sehwag is that someone for me. He nurtured me like I was his kid brother, scolded me like an elder and protected me like a guardian.

You were such distinct personalities but still came together to form one of India’s most formidable opening partnerships.

Yes, we are very different personalities. I liked to take the opposition on with ferocity and didn’t mind an odd word, Viru would be befriending them. I remember in 2008 in Sri Lanka I was going after Ajantha Mendis and Muralitharan. I was even giving them a bit of lip service but Viru was happily chatting with them between overs, cracking jokes. That served as the USP of our partnership. I did my thing and he did his. Being different also meant that his scoring areas were different to mine. While he liked to hit the ball in the air I played it along the ground; while I’d jump out of the crease against spinners, Viru would play from the crease.

How big an influence was Viru on your batting?

While we are best of mates it’s not as if we were either seeking or giving advice all the time. In any case Viru never liked to advice too much. While he wanted to dominate, I wanted to spar and then dominate. We both believed in the individuality of our partners.

Viru’s impact was different. He influenced the way we looked at a match situation. In 2008 during the famous Chennai Test match that India won by 6 wickets I think he was the only one confident that we could win. We were chasing 387 to win, and when I went into bat on the fourth day I was thinking runs with a ‘not out’ as there was a day to go. Viru was thinking batting England out of the Test match. He got some 80 odd in 60-70 balls against the likes of Anderson, Flintoff and Graeme Swann. I asked him his plan when he was blazing away. He said, ‘kuch nahin, ball dikh rahee hai, mai maar raha hoon, tu bi maar’. (Nothing, I am seeing the ball, and I am hitting. You also hit!). It was as matter-of-factly as that for Viru. But it surely calms down the dressing-room and that is what I mean by Viru impact.

The running between the wickets between you two was legendary. How did you guys develop that?

It’s Delhi culture. Both Viru and I played a lot of street cricket where if you hit big shots you may end up breaking window panes of your neighbours. Over the years it became a part of our cricket and we took it into international cricket as well. Sometimes that was our way of sledging the opposition or getting under their skin. We knew they won’t like the fact that we could rotate the strike with ease.

What does this whole business of ‘complementing each other’ mean to you, and was there ever a time when you had to ask him to handle a bowler who was troubling you a lot or vice versa?

It’s the essence of any partnership. The idea is to not only score your own runs but also help your team-mate score.

When he’d struggle I’d take most of the strike and vice versa. Yes, that does happen but I won’t want to give that away as both of us are still playing at different levels and so are those bowlers; so why give them an edge?

How difficult was it to not get carried away seeing him blow away opposition bowlers with little regard?

No it wasn’t tough as I knew my game really well. While I knew what I could do but more importantly I knew what I couldn’t do. Therefore I never attempted to play an upper cut or a slog sweep. It was not about matching Viru’s strokeplay but about matching his attitude or mind. It’s a bit like acting with Amitabh Bachchan where other actors could be tempted to act like the great man. No one can act like Bachchan saab or bat like Virender Sehwag.

It was said that you and Viru never spoke about cricket in the middle. How much truth is there to it?

This is one of those fantasy stories weaved by the media. When Brett Lee is bowling at 100 miles or Graeme Swann spinning web around you, what do you expect us to talk about? Of course we talk cricket and not sing songs or discuss Sensex. But yes we were like an odd couple where on good days we discussed real estate in Sri Lanka or Sydney Harbour fireworks on new year’s but those were very few and far.

Could his constant whistling—for which he was so famous for—become a pleasant distraction, in the sense ease your nerves? Did you ever get caught up in trying to guess the song?

No, the whistling never distracted me; in fact I tried to join in the fun with him. My nerves would never be settled till the time I hit one in the middle of the bat, whistle or no whistle.  I never got the songs right with him as I was into more contemporary ones, more modern with my choice of songs while he was too much into 60s and 70s songs sung by Kishore Kumar. Yeah, that’s regret — he never sung or whistled a tune of an Aatif Aslam or an Arijit Singh song.

Was there ever a day or a point where your distinct personalities clashed, where Mr Intensity and Mr Cool weren’t on the same page?

I was always submissive in nature and would never argue with him. Every relation forms its own defined and non-defined rules. Our relation was no different. He was like the elder of the house who has a final word, and being the younger one, I had to listen to him.

That also gave me the liberty to be mischievous or demanding at times. He loves Kadhee Chawal but I am not a big fan of that dish. We generally ate together and would order food keeping in mind each other’s likes and dislikes. There I’d discourage him from ordering Kadhee chawal and instead let me order my favourites. Apart from that never any discontent.

Was he someone you could fall back on for life advice as well?

Oh yes, big time. I’d ask him about marriage, fatherhood, investments, post-retirement life, relationships within the team and outside as well…so many things. In fact I grew up in a very secured environment with him being around. A few series when he was not around I’d feel something was amiss, but now a part of me is gone with his retirement.

How much time did you two spend off the field on tours, and how crucial was it to your on-field partnership?

We would end up spending a lot of time together and we had others too like Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma who’d hang around with us. Life was fun then, it’s now a mere postcard memory. Spending time helped us with our performances. We knew each other well as a person plus if there was any shortcoming in our games we had a platform – our hotel room – to discuss the same.

How did the two of you deal with the slump that both of you had to endure during the 2011-12 season, especially in Australia?

Nightmare, absolute nightmare. There is little we could do as nothing was coming off, and team was losing as well. After a point we stopped discussing cricket off the field as it was depressing. Both of us had families around so that helped because seeing each other after play was getting tad too monotonous. Viru was really upset as we just couldn’t win anything during Test matches in Australia.

Did he ever change anything about his game or at least discuss with you what was going wrong with it?

After his eyesight issues I’d see that he was concentrating harder. Apart from that I couldn’t spot any other change.

How does it feel to hear someone of Sehwag’s stature say that the one man he enjoyed opening the batting the most with was Gautam Gambhir?

That is very kind of him but I was only following his plans. Although I must say that he was one cricketing brain whose prowess was underestimated as he looked a natural. In India you need to look intense to be classified a good cricketing brain. Viru loved his cricket therefore he was never given that due. I hope at least now Indian cricket uses one of its most uncomplicated cricketing minds.

“Jor se maar shot, upar se nikal jayeegi,” Sehwag once yelled when you were finding the going hard against Pakistan. “Abey main Sehwag nahi hoon. Seedha fielder ke haath mein jayegi,” you were supposed to have said. Remember that?

Of course I remember. But I’d never call Viru bhai “Abey”, I must have said “Viru bhai I am not Sehwag……..” I think it was during CB series or in New Zealand can’t recall but I did say this. Let’s put it this way: He was Virender Sehwag and I am a mere mortal.