By Qaiser Mohammad Ali,IANS
New Delhi : Virender Sehwag is going through extreme emotions these days – from becoming the father of a baby boy to losing his father, with the sudden tragedy Tuesday making him miss the limited over warm-up match against Pakistan here Friday.
Some extremely contrasting and unusual events – mostly happier ones – have occurred in Sehwag’s life in the last few weeks: being part of the Twenty20 team that won the world title, becoming a proud father, getting a recall to the Indian one-day side and then losing his father Tuesday.
The death of Krishna has prevented him from leading Delhi against Pakistan, thus missing out on an opportunity to stake his claim for a recall to the national Test team for the series against Shoaib Malik’s side.
“According to custom, since I lit my father’s pyre I cannot venture out of the house for at least four days. So, I will not play Friday’s match,” Sehwag told IANS at his Najafgarh home.
While receiving visitors, including Yuvraj Singh and other cricketers, in the trophy-laden drawing room, Sehwag now has only the first two one-day internationals (ODIs) to press his claim for a Test recall.
The selectors have announced the Indian team only for two ODIs. Three Tests follow the five-match ODI series.
October was a month during which Sehwag experienced extreme emotions – and a few unusual events.
After being part of the Twenty20 World Championship-winning Indian team in South Africa in September, Sehwag’s wife Aarti gave birth to a baby boy Oct 19, a day before Sewhag turned 29.
That day, minutes before the baby was born, an unusual thing happened: Sehwag’s father, continuing his annual practice, distributed sweets in Najafgarh village thinking that it was Virender’s birthday.
“My son was born minutes past 9 a.m. and my father distributed sweets, as he has been doing for several years, about half an hour earlier thinking it was Oct 20,” Sehwag disclosed.
“People who got the sweets assumed that I had become a father and converged at my home. But the sweets were meant to celebrate my birthday,” he said, himself not able to explain the reason for his father’s memory lapse.
But within minutes people also received the good news of the baby being born at a local hospital and the joy was doubled in the Sehwag household – and worth the mix-up on his father’s part.
Just hours later Sehwag boarded a flight to Mumbai for the Twenty20 match against Australia. Although he did not exactly set alight the Brabourne Stadium, six days later he had another reason to distribute sweets.
Oct 26, Sehwag was recalled to the ODI squad for the first two ODIs against Pakistan, partly due to his outstanding record against the neighbours, and also looks to be on his way to being reinducted into the Test side.
The happy tidings were not over yet, as he captained the India Blues team to the Challenger Trophy, a tournament that pits the best available talent in the country against each other – a trial for those vying for selection to the national team. His 75 against India Greens in Ahmedabad was enough for the selectors to pick him.
Oct 30 would have been another red-letter day for the Sehwag diary when he was scheduled to meet the three most powerful people in the country – President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
However, Sehwag had returned from Ahmedabad Monday with a throat infection and mild fever. So he informed coach Lalchand Rajput that he would be missing the felicitation functions organised for the triumphant Twenty20 side.
He took some medicine and slept well into the day even as his father again complained of low blood sugar and a doctor was summoned. When Sehwag finally woke up at 11 a.m. he went to his father’s room where he saw blue marks on his hands.
“I was more or less sure that he was no more. A doctor was immediately called, who advised us to take him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Life is such…,” mulled Sehwag, elder brother of Vinod and two sisters, both married.
His father’s death seems to have put a stop to Sehwag’s happy tidings. But he will soon resume his cricket journey – perhaps having another reason to excel with the bat that made his late father so proud.