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A tribute on Virender Sehwag by B.V.Swagath

For more than 10 years now, any team playing against India has traditionally been looking to plot the downfall of Sachin Tendulkar more than anyone else in their team meetings to shake the Indian team. But not anymore folks! Nowadays most of the focus is on how to get one batsman out right at the top of the Indian batting line up. He’s India’s opening batsmen, who has the mantle of facing the red hot quicks, who has to survive against the classy swing and seam bowlers in different wicket conditions.

Infact Sehwag is one of the two batsmen in the Indian team who doesn’t know what to expect off the wicket and in the air when the new ball is hurled by the fast bowlers. The first hour of an innings is something unpredictable and this is the period when the pacers are at their best most often with the brand new cherry and this is when India’s Virender Sehwag takes the bull by its horns.

Initial setbacks for the boy from Najafgarh…

Few might know that Virender Sehwag, a dashing right handed middle order batsman from Delhi had played six One Day Internationals at the Under 19 level for India in 1997/98 season and had scored just 76 runs with an average of 12.66. Looking at those figures, no one would have ever thought that this lad from Najafgarh would make the world sit back and watch him bat and of course no one would have thought even in their dreams that this boy would beat the hell out of the fastest bowlers in the world one day. On Valentine’s Day in 1998, the same year when Sachin ‘Ton’dulkar was at the peak of his career scoring those unbelievable knocks against the best bowlers on Earth, marked the first class debut of the 19-year-old Virender.

Virender Sehwag’s first class debut was the Ranji Trophy match at Chennai, which was one of the most infamous matches in First Class History atleast in India. It was Tamil Nadu Versus Delhi at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Batting first, the homeside made 473 after batting for more than two days. Delhi in reply scored 183 losing 4 wickets and our Virender didn’t get to bat in that match as there was a premature end to this 4-day game just few minutes before the scheduled close of play on the 3rd day and no play was there on the 4th day! No folks, it wasn’t rain or bad light, it was something else altogether, it was one of those on field controversies that ended that Ranji match. Delhi’s skipper Ajay Sharma had reported to the umpires about the presence of spike marks on the good length areas of the wicket! Reuben Paul, the big and strong Tamil Nadu wicket keeper was alleged to have done this notorious act of pitch tampering with his big boots and he was banned for a year later, unfortunately Reuben was one of those guys who could have played for India during that period. The consequence of this pitch tampering issue was that both the teams Delhi and Tamil Nadu were banned from playing for the whole of the 97/98 season. And thus Viru had lost one cricketing season for no fault of his.

Century on Debuts?

Now let’s travel from 1997/98 to 2001/02 for a minute and come back, from Delhi to Bloemfontein in South Africa. Most people know that Virender Sehwag entered the record books by becoming yet another batsman to score a century on his Test Debut against a tearing South African attack. Something similar happened to this lad on the 23rd of October, 1998, he spanked a century against Haryana in the 98/99 Ranji Trophy Season – it wasn’t his first class debut but it certainly was his first ever innings in first class cricket. So that was the start he wanted for much bigger things later in his cricketing life. Just with 9 first class games and 694 runs at an average of nearly 50 behind him, the Najafgarh boy made it to the Board President’s XI for the 3-day match against the visiting Pakistani team. Sehwag scored a rapid 66 in 83 balls, really impressive knock that was played at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

Viru makes the small place of Najafgarh proud

Following his scintillating innings in both first class matches and also the first class limited overs matches like the Deodhar, Wills Trophy and the Ranji One Day, Virender had to be handed the India One Day Cap at Mohali against Pakistan. Viru however flopped, falling plum infront to an express delivery from Shoaib Akthar making just 1. But there was enough determination in the youngster and the selectors had enough faith in his ability that he constantly figured in the Board Presiden’t XI, India A and other prominent sides.

A couple of quiet performances in the last two ODIs against Zims at home and his sterling show in the Challenger Trophy kept the selectors interested in Viru. Sehwag announced his arrival in the international circuit at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore walking away with the Man of the Match award against world beaters - Australia. He made a cameo 54 balls-58 and then took 3 wickets with his smart off spin. This was the real fillip for Sehwag to cement his place in the Indian team. After 5 months from then, he established himself as India’s opening batsman in the limited overs after racing to a hundred in just 69 balls against the Kiwis to become the new Master Blaster for India. There was no looking back after this knock, he made his knocks counted and also forced his way into the Test XI.

From a No. 6 bat to an opening bat

A century on Test debut at Goodyear Park had to accommodate him somehow in the XI. One of the options was that Sehwag would open India’s innings in Test Cricket as well. He just grabbed the opportunities and made many people tighten their lips as he redefined the role of a Test Opener with his brand of cricket. Viru made the shine of the brand new ball lost in just few minutes of his stay at the wicket through his cracking square cuts and thunderous drives. When a spinner comes into the bowl, he takes out his slog sweep to attack him. Cricket Coaches keep talking about his footwork and simply say that it’s not cricket but its just ‘blind lathi charge’. Who cares as long as he gets the runs on the board and sets India on course for a good total? Isn’t it? His scores are there to be seen. He is the record holder for the highest individual score in Tests for India scoring 309 against Pak at Multan. He holds the record for the fastest double century by an Indian and the 2nd fastest in the world. He scored almost 200 runs all on his own in Australia in less than a day’s play. He has made big hundreds as always on different pitches against quality bowling attacks.

Why Sehwag is so dangerous?

One of the striking things about this dasher is that his back foot doesn’t get back and across as it should according to the coaching manuals. Instead it goes away towards the leg stump for any ball that’s pitched on outside off or offstump. That creates him enough room for him to free his arms and square cut the ball even more ferociously than what Adam Gilchrist does.

In the Lahore Test, Viru blasted the 2nd fastest double ton in Test Cricket History. He went onto score 254 in 247 balls with 47 fours and just a six! Certainly one would expect more than a six in such an innings, but that’s where Viru’s specialty comes into play. He spanks the fast bowlers all along the ground and doesn’t employ the lofted shots as often as any other attacking batsman would and yet score runs as fast as anyone would. The only time in Test Cricket that he hits the fast bowlers in the air is when he goes for his famous upper cut over the slips and sometimes while attempting the hook shot. Any one would have defended Danish Kaneria’s good length deliveries, but Sehwag was hitting them for runs mostly boundaries by driving him on the up through covers. It’s a dangerous tactic even foolish to play on the up to a world class leggie like Danish. But Viru knows his cricket well, it was a dead track with slow turn and he had the confidence of covering for the turn and controlling his free flowing drives.

The one big challenge for Virender is that he has to score runs in the 2nd innings, atleast half as well as he does in the first innings. May be he scores runs for both innings in the first innings itself but anyway hope he keeps on entertaining everyone with his ‘lathi charge’ batting style in as many years as possible. Special thanks to God for creating this talent and special thanks to N.A.Sharma, Coach of Viru for nurturing the talent because he could have easily spoilt the natural talent of Virender Sehwag many years ago in Najafgarh!

 

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