This time last year, Virender Sehwag was as integral a part of the Indian team in both versions of the game as Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were. Now, though, he is being considered superfluous in all forms. Dropped for the Test series in Bangladesh in May, the 28-year-old from Delhi was left out for the one-day series in Ireland against South Africa as well as the on-going Test series in England, after a low string of scores over the preceding few months.

On Tuesday, India’s selectors will meet to pick squads for the one-day series in England beginning later this month, as also for the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa next month. Sehwag has perhaps more of a chance of making it to the latter tournament than the former, especially given that India won the one-day series against the Proteas in Ireland 2-1 without him. But typically, the right-hander is not losing any sleep thinking about what will happen on the morrow when the wise men confabulate.

“I am not expecting anything,” Sehwag told Deccan Herald on Monday. “I am just trying to control whatever is in my hands, I am not worried about other things. I am playing this tournament for my company, I am enjoying myself, doing my fitness. Whatever I can do for cricket, I am doing.”

This tournament, of course, is the KSCA all-India invitation tournament, and Sehwag is turning out for ONGC, his employers. He didn’t have the best of days on Monday, dismissed for a second-ball duck, though Tuesday could dawn brighter for the man who led India to victory in their only Twenty20 international to date, against South Africa in Johannesburg last December.

The last few months ha-ven’t been the best in Sehwag’s cricketing life. “After a long time, after playing six years continuously for India, I have now been dropped from the side because of lack of performance. It has been a difficult last 3-4 months. I have been spending time mostly at home, doing my fitness, spending time at the nets.
“Sometimes, time away from international cricket can be good for you -- it gives you the chance to think about your cricket, about yourself and your game. I have also been thinking about what I should do to improve my game and take it to the next level. I am trying to work hard on my fitness and on my batting,” he said, a fighting fit frame with no trace of the excess baggage he carried with him at various stages last season backing up his words.