The Opening Stand

A Sachin ton often ends in defeat, many argue. The awestruck fives, sixes and sevens who walk in when the job is three quarters done might be a loose attempt in rationalizing. Such is the appreciation of visual art that it is forgotten that there is a task at hand to be completed. Virender Sehwag has often provided a sequel to episodes directed by Sachin. If the chisels, dabs, cuts and hoics were tough to replicate the end result was presented with equal intensity but less definition. If Sachin dissected the opposition like a surgeon at work, carefully labeling grey areas and balming up his elbows to scoop out runs, Sehwag arrived with a severed head or limb to announce his input to the code. It was game of good cop-bad cop that these men played with many-an-opponent. Finally, it appears that the chainsaw is jammed. The hands of the man who tore and crumpled epics in serif quilled by legends of the past from across the globe seem to have lost the recoil. A hang in fire finds him losing his wicket to minnows who checked in recently.

Young lads and graceful greyers from the South, North and West are campaigning for the central purpose of their causes. Dhawan, Mukund, Jaffer, Jivanjyot, Uthappa, to name a few are men who have set off flares in domestic cricket. With about thousand runs in the Ranji season, the sirens are deafening. Sehwag might have to check out. With alternate pieces listed and ready to complete the jigsaw, will and old Sehwag return to provide a retro effect to the picture?

A difficult call. But he happens to be a victim of the idol prevention tactic deployed by selectors to make sure another Sachin doesn't happen. Being above the committee, the board and having the selectors answerable and blushy when dropped is something only Sachin could pull off. Dhoni, of course, might be getting there through a different path. But before a halo appears behind the head the few wise men have decided to snipe the moving target.