When Viru Was 'Collared'

In an explosive moment in the Indian dressing room, Virender Sehwag was grabbed by the collar by former coach John Wright during the NatWest Trophy in England after the opener had played a reckless shot to get out.

The genial New Zealander recalls the incident in his just-published book IndianSummers while referring to the Indian team's tour of England in 2002.

He recalls that India had bundled out Sri Lanka, the third participating team,for 202 at a very flat wicket at the Oval.

"I had been trying to get Sehwagto temper his boldness which too often of late had crossed the line intorecklessness," he writes.

Shortly after skipper Sourav Ganguly had got out in the second over, Sehwagholed out trying to blast one back over the bowler's head, leaving India 26 for2.

"I had enough of players trotting out the 'natural game' line as an excusefor failing to take responsibility and disregarding the match situation.

"When Sehwag wandered in, I decided it was time for a sort-out. Notrealising that my exasperation levels had soared into the red zone, I went up tohim, grabbed him by the collar and barked. 'What the hell's going on? How canyou come back in here after playing a shot like that and unbuckle your pads asif nothing's happened. Everyone froze -- it was like someone had pulled out agun -- and I turned on my heel and stomped out'."

Wright says in the subsequent team meetings he was toldby the players that he had been a "bit rough" and the ex-coach acceptsthat he had indeed gone overboard. As for Sehwag, Wright said he had a face-to-face with the Delhi opener at the team hotel.

"Sehwag told me bluntly that he didn't like whatI'd done. I acknowledged that he was entitled to feel aggrieved, but added thatI didn't give a damn if he poured his heart out to every newspaper inIndia."

Justifying his action, Wright says there was an urgent need for something to bedone because it had not got to the point where the single-minded commitment towinning overrode all other considerations of the players.

"The volcano had been rumbling for a while, and it just happened to beSehwag who triggered the eruption. He took it better than some of the otherswould have and we remained mates."

The former New Zealand skipper says the Sehwag episode did not do the rounds byword of mouth or found its way into the press which showed "we were apretty tight team".

Wright also says he used physio Andrew Leipus and trainer Adrian Le Roux to keeptrack of the "temperature and mood" of the dressing room.

Wright says sometimes when he asked them if he had gotit right, they frankly replied in the negative. "From time to timeoutsiders who read too much into my public persona suggested that maybe I wastoo soft for the job, but I don't think that view held sway on the other side ofthe dressing room door."

Wright says whenever the players thought he had crossedthe line from being frank to brutal, they gave him a cold shoulder.

"When you say 'good morning', they look right through you and keep walking.When that happened to me I'd answer for them 'Good morning, John' and take onthe broad message that there was a bit of bridge building to be done.

"Sometimes it would come out of the blue and I'd wonder what's up with him,but usually the player was reacting to a verbal rocket or being dropped."

Wright says he had to do a bit of "ego massage" at times when herealised that there was some justification in their sulk.

"The core message that I wanted to come through in everything I did andsaid was that I cared; I cared for them as people, and as cricketers, and Icared for our team."

Later, asked about Wright's revelation, a reluctant Rajiv Shukla, thethen manager of the team and now a senior office-bearer of the BCCI, saidin New Delhi that he had kept the incident under wraps all theseyears because what happened inside dressing rooms was not supposed to be divulged.It is Wright who spilled the beans, he said.

Recalled Shukla "We were sitting in the balconyoutside the dressing room at the Oval. Sehwag had just got out and gone into thedressing room. Suddenly an agitated captain Ganguly came out from the room andcomplained to me that the coach had slapped Sehwag who was sobbing.

"I rushed to the dressing room and found thatSehwag was indeed sobbing. He told me that Wright had pushed him. I patted himand controlled him," Shukla said.

Next, the manager started looking for the coach."He was not in the dressing room but after some effort I found him in asmall room adjacent to it. He was all by himself, tensed up and smoking as heusually did whenever he was in tension." 

Shukla said he had told Wright that he should not havetreated Sehwag in this manner and that the opening batsman was justifiablyupset.

"Wright immediately accepted his mistake. My ownview is that the coach wanted Sehwag to score more runs and when the batsman hadgot out he could not control his anger because of which he had got hold ofSehwag's collar and pushed him.

"I knew that Wright had affection for Sehwag andhad reacted to his getting out like a guru reacting to the failure of adisciple. He always used to urge Sehwag not to lift the ball because he oftenlost his wicket that way," he said.

An angry Ganguly was demanding that Wright shouldapologise to the entire team, recalled Shukla adding that the coach's action hadplaced him in an acute dilemma.

Shukla immediately consulted Sachin Tendulkar and theteam's media manager Amrit Mathur. "The advice I got was that in caseWright apologised to the whole team, his authority will be eroded. I thoughtthis was a valid point," he says.

"I persuaded Sehwag not to seek an apology from thecoach in front of the entire team. Wright was also persuaded to speak to Sehwagand assuage his feelings when the team returned to the hotel. Both agreed tothis.

"Wright spoke to Sehwag and admitted his mistake,"Shukla continued. "This is how a potentially explosive situation was resolved and itdid not become public despite the presence of scores of Indian and Britishjournalists."

Thereafter, relations between the swashbuckling openerand Wright remained "cordial and nice", according to Shukla.

PTI