It is the worst kept secret that the captain and vice-captain don’t exactly share the best of equation. Sehwag has always wanted to be India captain and sources close to the team say he does not like to take orders from Mahi. Viru considers himself a matchwinner, which he indeed is, who is proud of the fact that “the day he bats well, India wins”.Dhoni’s success at the top ensured the world did not probe the cracks in the dressing room but it wasn’t as if the dramatis personae tried to cover them up.

Sample what Sehwag said at a presser before the World Cup when a journalist asked him how he finds Dhoni as captain. “We are his seniors. He doesn’t need to tell us what to do. We know what we have to do.” Sehwag’s reply went like a tracer bullet, piercing Dhoni’s smile.

Dhoni replied in kind before the series against England in October last year. Asked about the absense of senior players, he said, “It’s not very difficult to manage. When you talk about the senior players, it is very difficult to replace them exactly but I won’t say it is very difficult to manage.”

Today journalists covering the Indian team will tell you that the side, after a string of post-WC failures, is a house totally divided. On one side, you have the Delhi-led group of Sehwag, Gambhir, Ishant, Harbhajan and on the other, the Chennai Super Kings gang of Dhoni, Raina, Ashwin and now Jadeja. Virat Kohli has smartly decided that it makes better sense to be on Dhoni’s right side while Sachin can have the luxury of staying neutral. And Dhoni is accused of backing the boys he likes.

Personally I find nothing wrong in Dhoni calling a spade a spade. Look at Sehwag’s body language while fielding. It is lethargy and Najafgarhian nawabipan written all over. Yes he took a couple of Karbonn kamaal catch in the triseries but does he look like a fielder who will convert the 3s into 2s or 2s into a single? Nay. Wasim Akram calls Sehwag “the most unfit cricketer in the Indian team today”.

But then Viru was never a Jonty Rhodes, you may argue. Fair enough. He was in the team because on his day, he could butcher the bowling attack so mercilessly that bird flu would seem compassionate in comparison. But has he used his bat to good effect in Australia? And we aren’t even talking England here.Sehwag’s admirers are countless and I am one of them. But the alarm signals admittedly have been ringing too loud and for quite a while for any of us to ignore them. Viru has not scored a century outside the sub-continent for four years now. And despite a 219 on his day, he averages just about 35 in the ODI format, that hardly does justice to his kind of kolaveri talent. India fawns on him, saying “that’s the way he bats”, almost with a take it or leave it kind of attitude.

It is high time Sehwag realises that batting with a credit card is not the way to serve your country. Living off the glory of Indore-like innings, it is as if Viru tells the dressing room, “See you in a while” when he steps out to bat. He owes it to India that he puts his head down and spurns those airy-fairy without-a-care-in-the-world shots for a while. All he needs is to put his head down, spend some time in the middle before the Viru of old can make the fielders do chakki peesing and peesing and peesing in the field all day. And when he gets those extra 75 to 100 runs, we can ignore the few he lets go too.

When it comes to Dhoni, Sehwag and his Dilli ka comrade, Gautam Gambhir have been sharing a double SIM ka mobile phone. Gauti chose to go public with his observation that Mahi should have finished the match in the 48th over. Dhoni retorted by reminding bats up the order that they should try to bat longer and finish the game themselves. When players in a team game choose to communicate through the media, you know the `bite’ will hurt more than the bark.

Tendulkar hasn’t exhibited any Delhi Belly on the matter. We would have ideally liked his bat to do the talking but that has been in Manmohan Singh mode for quite sometime now. Meanwhile Kapil Dev is telling Sachin that it is time he calls it a day from ODIs.If you fell off your chair reading this, I wouldn’t be surprised. Because I did when I heard Kapil Paaji offering such noble advice. Because he himself never practised what he is preaching now. With single-minded focus on overtaking Sir Richard Hadlee’s 431 wicket haul, Kapil played match after match while Javagal Srinath’s hair greyed. India’s former skipper saying cricketers should know when to quit is a bit like the devil quoting the scriptures.

Sources say BCCI top bosses told Tendulkar politely after the World Cup triumph that this could be the perfect time to call it a day. They asked him to get his 100th hundred against the West Indies and retire at Lords. Tendulkar apparently kept quiet.

The decision of Cricket Australia to put a full stop to Ricky Ponting’s ODI career in the middle of the triseries, will certainly give a few ideas to Indian selectors. The manner in which Australia has put country’s performance above marquee names, is worth emulating. While no one is asking BCCI to gracelessly push out cricketers who have served the country with distinction, surely a VRS needs to be offered.

With the kind of disastrous performance the team has been dishing out, it is time India takes fresh guard with some fresh arrows in its quiver.