Virender Sehwag: Banning bouncers will make cricket a batsman's game

Virender Sehwag

Discarded Indian batsman Virender Sehwag has given his view to the raging debate in the wake of Phillip Hughes’ untimely death on whether bouncers should be banned from the game of cricket, opining that outlawing bouncers will take “fun” out of the game.

"It was very sad that Phil Hughes died in such a way, hitting the pull shot and got hit on his head and died. But it is a part of cricketing life. If you are playing any sport, injuries will come your way. May be you can die also, but you have an option to duck it (bouncer). So it is up to you as a batsman," Sehwag told reporters.

"If you cut out the bouncers then there is no fun in the game of cricket. Then it's a batsman's game. I don't think ICC should do that," he added.

Hughes was struck on the head by a bouncer off the bowling of Sean Abbott during a Sheffield Shield game last Tuesday, two days after which he sadly lost his life in a Sydney hospital. The death has taken the whole cricketing world by complete shock, and led to a plethora of warm tributes to the Aussie left-hander.

Looking at the situation objectively, Sehwag noted that banning bouncers will take away a very important weapon from the bowlers’ armoury and skew the balance of the game in the favour of batsmen completely.

"I have been hit a lot on my helmet by bouncers. If you remove bouncers, then perhaps the weapon that bowlers have will be over. Then cricket won't be that interesting," the 36-year-old concluded.