The "Joker" Sehwag and "Ordinary" Bangladesh

Sehwag took stupidity to a new height when he rubbished any possibility of resistance from Bangladesh at the press conference just before the first test match. The comments such as “Ordinary side”, in front of a foreign media doesn’t only show his lack of courtesy and arrogance, but also shows his lack of intelligence in handling media. I won’t be surprised if he comments something similar in near future about some of his teammates or some opponent team-members. He needs some mass-communication or public relations training.

The “Joke” is that he didn’t learn from mistakes. After being hit back by Bangladesh on the first day of the test, he could have been honest to himself and acknowledged to the media. Instead, he insisted again at the end of the test that he was right. From cricinfo -
“Asked whether he felt Bangladesh could now take 20 Indian wickets, Sehwag’s answer came pat: “No. They can’t. They still didn’t get 20 wickets.” “
It seems that he acknowledges that they were in trouble but still tries to defend it. His stance is not only politically incorrect but also shows his utter arrogance.

Keeping Sehwag apart, did Bangladesh play well enough? I saw in numerous blog-posts and newspaper reports that Bangladesh “almost” replied to Sehwag’s allegations. I don’t subscribe to that. 113 runs is a good enough margin for loss given that Bangladesh is playing on the home soil. Not only that, the cricket played was only of 297 overs, i.e. of around 3.5 days. Only because of the bad weather, the match was taken to the fifth day. Now compare that to the first ever test Bangladesh played, incidentally against India on the home soil. The test lasted for 355 overs with Bangladesh piling up a 400 before leaving India at 190/5. Aminul Islam’s 145 was by far a better test innings that his modern counterparts. So, keepning the scorecards side-by-side, where’s the improvement in last 10 years?

Of late people from other cricketing nations, especially Australians, are coming out loud against the test status of Bangladesh. Sehwag joined the bandwagon. But the truth is, Test cricket is one of the rarest sporting event on the Earth that runs for five days. An event that continues for five days, should take a few generations to learn – that is obvious. The granting of test status was not the recognition that they’d start winning matches within a few years. But it was an opportunity to improve upon the skills with an aim to get better next time. I hope people would keep that in mind before they comment.

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