Advice from former stalwarts helped me recover from issues about footwork: Virender Sehwag

‘See ball-hit-ball’ was too simplistic and even perhaps a lazy clarification to decode the phenomenon of Virender Sehwag as a batsman. Time and once more, by the course of his 14-year worldwide profession, he elevated this course of into an intricate artwork kind. Much of his success could possibly be attributed to very good hand-eye coordination.
Nevertheless, such a method was fraught with inherent pitfalls, primarily due to his restricted footwork.
As Sehwag made the seamless development from age-group cricket to ultimately cementing his standing as some of the harmful openers in worldwide cricket, coaches and seniors would hold reminding him about that one specific flaw in his recreation.
“There were many experts and cricketers in my early years of international cricket who used to point out my lack of foot movement, but none had any plausible suggestions to rectify it,” the 42-year-old reminisced throughout the launch of Cricuru, an experiential studying app aimed toward redefining cricket teaching within the nation.
After spending appreciable time making an attempt to change what he perceived as a elementary weak spot in his batting, interactions with three former India gamers – particularly Tiger Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth helped him allay his fears.
“They told me that rather than thinking about my footwork, I should start batting on middle or off-stump instead of taking my stance on leg stump. That helped me come closer to the ball. It improved my game, and credit goes to them,” Sehwag recollected.
According to the previous opener, it was this singular piece of recommendation that helped him flay assaults from all corners of the globe, and stack up over 8,000 Test runs. This invaluable piece of nugget would additionally assist one perceive the function coaches and seniors play throughout the early life of budding worldwide cricketers.
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During the course of the digital media interplay, dialogue veered in the direction of Prithvi Shaw – a supremely- gifted teenager who, regardless of his blazing knocks within the 2021 Indian Premier League, finds himself out of favour in long-form cricket.
Like Sehwag, Shaw can also be blessed with quick palms. However, in latest instances, he has had the tendency to play too distant from the physique and keep rooted to his crease. What compounded his woes was his propensity to remain outdoors the leg stump in an try to unfurl his trademark exaggerated bat swing. Resultantly, it left an enormous hole between bat and pad, which made Shaw a sitting duck in opposition to the transferring ball.
Sehwag supplied a easy recommendation to Shaw, one thing that had labored for him throughout his taking part in days. “Suno sabki, karo apni… take advice from everyone, but do only what suits your game.”
More than six years after his worldwide retirement, Sehwag has now teamed up with Sanjay Bangar, his good buddy and former batting coach of the Indian staff, in a brand new enterprise.
It’s an Artificial Intelligence-enabled mobile-web-based software known as Cricuru, particularly designed to assist children choose up the finer nuances of the sport by masterclasses from greats reminiscent of AB de Villiers, Brett Lee, Brian Lara and Jonty Rhodes.
“The vision behind Cricuru is to offer access to cricket coaching for people living anywhere across the country, even Tier 2 and 3 cities, which can be easily accessed from the comfort of your homes. With smartphone and internet penetration on the rise, this just makes it more accessible for aspiring cricket enthusiasts,” Bangar defined.