'Sick' Virender Sehwag pulls out of Vijay Hazare Trophy; rumours suggest poor form real reason

Virender Sehwag

Swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag opted to pull out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy‘s North Zone Leg between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh due to ‘ill health’, but the rumour is rife that the decision has been taken in light of his poor form.

While the official reason has been stated to be “sickness”, a rumour is doing the rounds in Delhi’s cricket fraternity, that his poor form has finally prompted Sehwag to take a break.

“Sehwag has cough and cold problems and that’s why he has decided to opt out of this game. He also reported of feverish feeling,” Chetan Chauhan, chairman of the selection committee said.

Chief coach of the team Sanjeev Sharma received a message from Sehwag in the morning at 7:15 am, where the 35-year-old conveyed his decision. All the players were instructed to report to the ground at 7:30 am.

“Viru texted me in the morning and told me that he is sick,” Sharma said when asked about Sehwag’s absence.

Before adding, an interesting statement, “Had he played this match, he would have opened the innings,” Sharma said.

On the condition of anonymity, a senior DDCA official has questioned the decision of Sehwag to pullout only 15 minutes prior to the reporting time.

“Look, everybody knows that Sehwag does have an issue regarding opening the innings. He himself had many a times made it clear that he doesn’t want to open. Although that’s a negative mentality but people are raising questions as to how he can get this leeway despite repeated failures.

“May be he is now being given feelers by the team management that he should open in the best interest of the team,” a senior DDCA official said.

Sehwag has been battling with poor form for quite some-time now, and had managed to score only 14 and 10 respectively against Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. Sehwag who has been forced to wear spectacles, has seen his famous hand-eye co-ordination fade away.