Sehwag weeps into World Cup

Trelawny (Jamaica), March 10: Virender Sehwag's cup of woe runneth over. Given what could well be once last chance to get his head in order with the World Cup getting ever closer, and with the Indians chasing an extremely modest target set by the West Indians at the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium here on Friday, the Delhi batsman messed it all over again.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Sehwag had acknowledged that he needed to score runs for not just the team, but also for himself. He also agreed that his exclusion from the side that had toured the West Indies last summer had been justified. And on Friday, he could not have asked for a better opportunity. No pressure, a minuscule target, and he threw it all away again.

By now, critics will be calling for his head. And the chairman of the selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar, has hung skipper Rahul Dravid out to dry on the issue, telling a TV channel that Sehwag was the captain's pick and that the selectors had not wanted to the opener at all. What remains to be seen is just how much longer Dravid and Greg Chappell will be willing to put up with an attitude that seems to show no signs of learning from past mistakes, over and over again.

As for Sehwag himself, even the plush environs of the Ritz-Carlton will be cold comfort, at least for a while. Meanwhile, cricket trumped politics here with the Jamaica Observer reporting on Friday that the mayor of Falmouth had caved in over asking the World Cup organisers for fees to set up banners announcing CWC 2007 on the route from Falmouth to Trelawny. Jonathan Bartley was quoted in the paper as having said on Thursday: "I spoke to someone from the LOC (Local Organising Committee) this morning and I told her that we will grant them the waiver."

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