There is something surreal about Virendra Sehwag's batting. He follows the age old dictum of 'KISS'- Keep it Short and Simple (or the more popular 'Keep is Simple Stupid').
His philosophy is simple. Batsmen's job is to hit the ball and score runs. Not for him the complexity of technical analysis and virtuosity. Maybe Dravid and Sachin should take a leaf out of Viru's book and bat with gay abandon. I remember Sunil Gavaskar play with much more freedom in the latter part of his career with remarkable success.
When the fab four (with the exception of VVS Laxman) about how to handle Ajantha Mendis and Murali , Sehwag went about the task with an amused look as to why others are struggling while he was at absolute ease. That is his genius. And it is not about hand eye co ordination or sheer luck. He was spot on in shot selection and very very tight in defence. Also he was reading both the spinners from their hand unlike others who were playing off the wicket.
It was a classic case of sticking to the basics, playing straight, sure in picking the length and despatching the loose balls promptly. Batsmanship at its best. It is not easy to carry ones bat in a test innings. Only SMG has done it before. And scoring 5 double hundreds and above has placed Sehwag in an elite company.
But what endeared him most to me was the third ball of the second last over. He was on 199, with Ishant Sharma at the other end. He pushed the ball to point and could have had an easy single to reach his double hundred, but refused. He waited till the last ball to get that single and retain the strike. Not many in contemporary cricket will do that. That alone puts him, in my eye, at a very high pedestial.
In Management too, what works best is that which is simple. Complex processes, policies tend to reduce the efficiency. Remember to keep things simple. A casual call to explain a point of view is better than a long winded memo.
