Sehwag undergoes surgery, may miss Champions Trophy

NEW DELHI: In what could spell more trouble for Indian cricket, explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag, whose absence ruined India's campaign to defend the Twenty20 World Championship title, will remain out of action for the next three months and is likely to miss the upcoming Champions Trophy in September.

Sehwag is currently under rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bangalore as he recovers from the shoulder injury which kept him out of the ICC World Twenty20. The batsman earlier underwent a surgey on June 11 after a lesion was indentified on his shoulder.

Viru will be under the observation of team physio Nitin Patel and is expected to wear a sling for atleast the next month till his lesion heals. At the end of the tenth week after the operation, Sehwag's shoulder will be evaluated and it will be asserted then if he is able to throw the ball.

The batsman picked up the injury during the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament -- Indian Premier League (IPL), following which there was intense speculations over his fitness during the T20 World Cup.

The uncertainity over his unavailablity led to reports of rift between him and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, which was later rubbished by the captain, who said that the team is united.

Source:TOI

Sehwag undergoes surgery, may miss Champions Trophy

NEW DELHI: In what could spell more trouble for Indian cricket, explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag, whose absence ruined India's campaign to defend the Twenty20 World Championship title, will remain out of action for the next three months and is likely to miss the upcoming Champions Trophy in September.

Sehwag is currently under rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bangalore as he recovers from the shoulder injury which kept him out of the ICC World Twenty20. The batsman earlier underwent a surgey on June 11 after a lesion was indentified on his shoulder.

Viru will be under the observation of team physio Nitin Patel and is expected to wear a sling for atleast the next month till his lesion heals. At the end of the tenth week after the operation, Sehwag's shoulder will be evaluated and it will be asserted then if he is able to throw the ball.

The batsman picked up the injury during the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament -- Indian Premier League (IPL), following which there was intense speculations over his fitness during the T20 World Cup.

The uncertainity over his unavailablity led to reports of rift between him and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, which was later rubbished by the captain, who said that the team is united.

Source:TOI

'Chokers' tag continue to haunt South Africa

London, Jun 19 (PTI) South Africa are "chokers" and they continue to provide evidence that the tag is not given to them without reason although skipper Graeme Smith begs to differ.

For all the right words, sane and sanguine thinking and public posturing, skipper Smith did let it slip when he conceded his side would be "devastated" by yesterday's seven-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the first semifinal of the Twenty20 World Cup.

This crushing sense of loss of so many reverses -- 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cups; the roadblocks of Champions Trophy and now two successive ICC World Twenty20 - must have taken a toll on the Proteas cricketers' psyche.

Other occasions too come to mind in an instant: losing the semifinals of the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000; two years later losing to India in the semifinals from an astonishing position and then semifinalists again in 2006 edition of the ICC Knock Out Trophy.

Words alone don't provide cure -- correctives do but South Africa, since its readmission into the game in early 90s, has only been a bridesmaid or worse.

Choking, according to a research, comes from thinking too much. It causes a loss of instinct and panic sets in. It happens when a sportsman experiences spasms of doubt and is unable to focus. Negative thoughts unleash anxiety and a player loses his ability to perform under pressure. The result is disaster. PTI