Christchurch: In an explosive moment in the Indian dressing room, Virender Sehwag was grabbed by the collar by the then cricket coach John Wright during the NatWest Trophy tournament in England after the opener had played a reckless shot to get out.
The New Zealander recalls the incident in his just-published book Indian Summers 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 Sehwag to temper his boldness which too often of late had crossed the line into recklessness," he writes.
Shortly after skipper Sourav Ganguly had got out in the second over, Sehwag holed out trying to blast one back over the bowler's head, leaving India 26 for two.
"I had enough of players trotting out the 'natural game' line as an excuse for failing to take responsibility and disregarding the match situation. When Sehwag wandered in, I decided it was time for a sort-out."
"Not realising that my exasperation levels had soared into the red zone, I went upto him, grabbed him by the collar and barked. 'What the hell's going on? How can you come back in here after playing a shot like that and unbuckle your pads as if nothing's happened. Everyone froze -- it was like someone had pulled out a gun -- and I turned on my heel and stomped out."
Wright says in the subsequent team meetings the players told him that he had been a "bit rough" and the ex-coach accepts that he had indeed gone overboard.
As for Sehwag, Wright said he had face-to-face with the Delhi opener back at the team hotel. "Sehwag told me bluntly that he didn't like what I'd done. I acknowledged that he was entitled to feel aggrieved, but added that I didn't give a damn if he poured his heart out to every newspaper in India."
Justifying his action, Wright says there was an urgent need for something to be done because it had not got to the point where the single-minded commitment to winning overrode all other considerations of the players.
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"The volcano had been rumbling for a while, and it just happened to be Sehwag who triggered the eruption. He took it better than some of the others would have and we remained mates."
The former New Zealand skipper says the Sehwag episode did not do the rounds by word of mouth or found its way into the press, which showed "we were a pretty tight team".
Wright also says he used physio Andrew Leipus and trainer Adrian Le Roux to keep track of the "temperature and mood" of the dressing room.
Wright says sometimes when he asked them if he had got it right, they frankly replied in the negative. "From time to time outsiders who read too much into my public persona suggested that maybe I was too soft for the job, but I don't think that view held sway on the other side of the dressing room door."
Wright says whenever the players thought he had crossed the 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 on the 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 he realised that there was some justification in their sulk.
"The core message that I wanted to come through in everything I did and said was that I cared; I cared for them as people, and as cricketers, and I cared for our team."
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