Virender Sehwag Profile by CricketArchive

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Player:

V Sehwag

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DateLine: 5th June 2008

 

Virender Sehwag is an audacious talent who has been compared to many a great batsman before him. Viv Richards, Bradman, Lara and also his idol Sachin Tendulkar, but the best part is that he is a mix of all of them. The way he shot to stardom on the international scene is the stuff legends are made of. He scored his first ODI century off 70 balls against New Zealand and went one better when he got his maiden Test hundred in only his debut test against South Africa.

 

With a swagger and audacity that is completely his own, he was asked to open the innings in England on tour in 2002 and that gamble paid off like anything, as he instantly hit an 80 and a 100 in the first two matches. Regularly thereafter, he kept coming up with important innings at the top of the order, the highlight coming at Multan against Pakistan in early 2004, his then top score of 309.

 

Sehwag also bowls effective, loopy off spin, and is a reliable catcher in the slips. Add to that an innings of 195 against the Aussies on Boxing Day in 2003 and a follow up ton in Adelaide in 2008, and it shows that his importance at the top of the order is highly effective. He then came up with a most belligerent innings yet, as he scored 319 against South Africa in March 2008, with his runs coming at an astonishing pace in three and a half sessions.

 

In between these great innings, he has also had his share of controversies. He once almost split the cricket world, when he was banned for a match by the ICC referee Mike Denness on grounds of excessive appealing, but that decision was overturned soon after. His one-day form dipped alarmingly after January 2004 as he went through a period of 60 matches where he averaged under 29. Despite this, he continued to sparkle in the test arena with a double hundred in Lahore. But successive failures meant that he first lost his vice-captaincy and then his place in the team for much of the 2007 season.

 

In the IPL, he was an ICON player for his home team, the GMR owned Delhi Dare Devils and as their captain, led from the front as the team made it to semi finals.

 

He continued with his form in Sri Lanka were he scored a brilliant unbeaten 201 in Galle out of a total team score of 329. Where the whole middle order was collapsing to Murali and Mendis he single handedly got a match winning score. He continued with consistent scores against Australia and his opening partnership with his Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir were one of the reasons that helped India regain the Border Gavaskar trophy.