It’s time India axed Tendulkar and Sehwag

By John Cheeran
It is high time national selectors gave the shock treatment to Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
Their performance in Test cricket – Karachi, Nagpur and Mohali – in the last three matches is pathetic and does not deserve a place in the side based on the current form.
As in the case of Sourav Ganguly, it is the reputation that is propping up Sehwag and Tendulkar. India has paid dearly in recent times for the poor performance of these two.
Let’s face it, these two have been reduced, essentially, to one-day players.
Skipper Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell are shy to ease out Tendulkar and Sehwag out of the team fearing the backlash from the cricketing riff-raff, especially in the case of the Mumbai batsman.
Tendulkar and Sehwag deserve to be dropped from the Test team, let’s make no bones about it.
They should be given counselling by Dravid and Chappell that, ‘fear not, you two will remain integral part of the World Cup squad.’
However unpleasant this step might turn out to be, there is no alternative for Dravid.
The fact that VVS Laxman is not playing in Mohali indicates the mood of the team management.
If Tendulkar and Sehwag do not come up with meaningful contribution in the second innings of the Mohali Test, they should be left behind. Time is running out for them.
In Nagpur and now in Mohali, Sehwag’s absolute failure pushed Dravid into an opener’s role.
Tendulkar’s failure even in the comfortable No.4 batting slot has put enormous pressure on the shoulders of Dravid. Indian batting t has narrowed down to Dravid.
In hindsight, India is missing the solidity of Mohammad Kaif in Mohali. How long youngsters like Kaif and Suresh Raina have to sit out only to accommodate the greats of the game?
If the measure of greatness is to come good under pressure, Tendulkar should have come good in the Karachi Test. He did not.
He should have come good at Nagpur. He did not. Then, at least he should have scored, at least got into double digits at Mohali.
I must add that the only beneficiary from the unseemly controversy regarding Sourav Ganguly’s omission is Sachin Tendulkar. Dravid and Chappell are apparently worried about the bigger and nastier backlash that shall greet them in the event of giving the axe to Tendulkar.
No wonder, then, Tendulkar came to support Ganguly during the height of the Reinstate Ganguly campaign.
Birds of same feather, indeed!