I have a question: What do you do when, in life, the ball is not rolling for you and you are in danger of losing the game, so to speak?

Turn to God? "Dig deep" and tough it out? Do a reality-check and revise your game plan? Hope for the best?

I ask this because I am very curious about what Ramnaresh Sarwan's plan is for his cricket career right at this minute, as you read this.

I take it that by this time he is at his Miami home. That was the plan he declared to the world on Twitter (the voice of modern day sportsmen) according to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) report on Sunday.

"Wishing the guys all the best in Dominica! Miami, here I come!"

Like some of Sarwan's off-driving, the quote made me pause when I read it.

It is hard to accurately read emotion in print. But those sounded like words of relief, not regret to me. Was as though he was signing off before a long-awaited vacation, not returning home after being dropped during a Test series against the game's No.1 team.

Risky though it is, I'm going to play sleuth here.

The case of Sarwan has been occupying my mind for almost all of this Home Series season. What really is his state of mind? I suspect it is not the clearest and calmest it has ever been.

It hardly begs repetition that this has been another unsettling season for cricket in this region. The tame manner of the exit from the World Cup in March/April has spawned very public spats between the West Indies' most senior players—former captain Chris Gayle and leading batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul—and their coach Ottis Gibson and WICB CEO Ernest Hilaire.

While the public file appears to be closed on the Chanderpaul case, it is most definitely not so far as Gayle is concerned.

Sarwan has not been a central figure in the sparring. But he isn't a disinterested onlooker either.

Recall that Gayle, in his KLAS FM missive following the World Cup, accused Gibson of "messing mentally" with Sarwan.

Gayle and Sarwan, who both began their Windies careers in 2000, have long been good buddies, sticking together through many a Players Association strike and brouhaha.

So, following the second one-day international against India at the Queen's Park Oval, when he was asked whether the West Indies missed big Chris, "Sars" did not take too long to respond.

"Yes, we are missing him to be honest... He is the most feared batsman in world cricket when it comes to ODIs or T20s. The selectors made a decision and we need to work with what we have."

Remember this, too, dear reader: Sarwan's own relationship with the WICB has also not been the smoothest over the past year.

He was not given a retainer contract for this current period because the Board claimed dissatisfaction with his fitness. Such a decision did not go down well either with the player or the Players Association. And while he has been brought back into the team this year, his form has at no stage been convincing, even when he was making half-centuries in the India ODIs.

In his own words it has been this way: "I haven't had the best run since the World Cup...I don't think I'm as fluent as I used to be...Few things are wrong...My strike rate has been a little awkward."

Those comments came during the ODIs. But things have got worse for Sarwan since the Test matches have started. Now he is out of the team.

After 87 Tests, 173 ODIs and 19 centuries in total, a pro such as he would be familiar with slumps of form. Over the years, he must have devised ways of dealing with them. But the sleuth in me suspects that Sarwan is having more than just technical problems right now. Slumps of form often have to do with slumps in the mind.

Add to those incidents and comments referred to earlier, this detail. During the final ODI at Sabina Park, with Sarwan cramping up on 75 made off 94 balls, he is called in by management (not sure if it was captain Darren Sammy or coach Gibson).

The move proved a tactical success. Marlon Samuels came out and supported Darren Bravo as Windies won. But how did it feel to Sarwan I wonder?

Let us assume that he feels, as his friend Gayle, that he was "messed up mentally" by the coach at the World Cup—is Sarwan comfortable in his own mind with management and about his place in the set-up?

Given his allegiance to Gayle, it is difficult to believe that the senior man is completely at ease with the team leaders, skipper Sammy included.

Observing him this season, Sarwan doesn't seem like a man enjoying his cricket. Felt the same way about Dwayne Bravo before he took his break from the ODI series, a break since "extended" by the selectors.

Every team will have its politics, I suppose, but how Sarwan will choose to deal with his issues--his crisis of confidence—is what fascinates me.

Other top sportsmen are also now being forced to do some soul-searching.

Tiger Woods' long night of a year in golf is continuing as he rehabilitates from knee and Achilles problems. Roger Federer's stunning loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon must have brought fresh questions to his mind about his continued potency at the top level of tennis. And after five losses in a row to new world No.1 Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal must be wondering when he will beat the relentless Serb again.

True champions always find a way to come back. Sars must choose a response now. A positive response.

Dr Rudi Webster's performance-enhancing expertise may have come too late in this series for him.

But maybe he should get the Doc's number and give him a call.

Better yet, just tweet him.

garth.wattley@trinidadexpress.com