IPL 6: Virender Sehwag no more a daredevil, he should give up now, says Engineer

Virender Sehwag smashed a superb 95 against Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla. That though remains his solitary innings of substance in the Indian Premier League as the Delhi Daredevils' opener continues to battle against a stubborn patch of bad form. Former India cricketer Farokh Engineer though feels the 34-year-old 'should just give up.'

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Sehwag has scored 254 runs from 10 innings in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. Taking his innings of 95 out, he averages about 17. On Friday evening, he hit four boundaries against Royal Challengers Bangalore but could not add to his total of 18. Once again, Sehwag threw caution to the wind after failing to pick a slower ball.

"It was really sad to see a great man like Sehwag struggle. I have been one of his greatest admirers (but) I honestly feel it is time that he gives up," said Engineer. "If a well-known opening batsman cannot face short-pitched bowling off the pace of Ravi Rampaul who is medium-fast, that's a sad state."

Against Bangalore, Sehwag was unable to read a slower ball from Jaydev Unadkat and spooned it up to mid-on. While his intent to lash out against bowlers has been in-tune with T20 standards, the execution and the consistency has left a lot to be desired.

Earlier this week, Daredevils' advisor Viv Richards had said that he felt Sehwag's career is stuck at the moment though he felt all is not yet over.

"Sehwag is at the red light at the moment. What is encouraging is the 95-run knock (against Mumbai Indians). People say he is gone but you don't bluff your way to 95," said Richards. The West Indian legend also advised that the veteran Indian master blaster should learn "batting approach from Chris Gayle" and should "respect bowlers." But habits die hard for Sehwag.

Dropped from the national side and with his IPL team languishing at the bottom of the table, Sehwag has been under pressure for some time now but many experts including Sunil Gavaskar have said that the best way for him is to respect the game, score big in domestic cricket and stake a claim to be back in the national side in the time to come.