New Delhi:
Indian Test great Virender Sehwag celebrates his thirty-eight birthday on October 20. Virender Sehwag was arguably the India’s greatest match winner with the bat in the history of Indian test cricket.
Virender Sehwag was perhaps the most destructive opening batsman in the modern era of test cricket. An attacking opener, Sehwag redefined the way openers played test cricket. He had a very simple and well organised technique, brilliant hand eye coordination and sublime timing which were key ingredients for him to unleash an array of destructive strokes.
India won many test match on the back of Sehwag’s spectacular knocks which were laced with boundaries and sixes. Viru simply which took away the game from the opposition by decimating attacks all over the world with his brutal yet eye catching stroke play. What made Sehwag even more special was his ability to score consistently at the highest level given the pace in which he batted.
Sehwag is hailed as arguably the most destructive batsman in all forms of the game. Sehwag is currently well praised throughout the country for his witty humor-filled tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitterrelating to current affairs
In an era where the openers were told to see of the new ball, present a text book technique and play in the so called V, Virender Sehwag gave a new dimension to opening in test matches. Sehwag had a simple method to his batting, “See the ball and Hit the ball”. Sehwag had a unique approach to batting which was a perfect recipe of hand eye coordination and sublime timing.
Sehwag had a stiff challenge of facing the new cherry in hostile overseas conditions and negotiating the pace and swing of the best bowling attacks in the world.
In a career spanning more than a decade as a test and ODI opener, its creditable for Sehwag to maintain an outstanding average of almost 50 all through his career combined with a brilliant strike rate of 82 in the longer form of the game. Sehwag’s attacking stroke play turned out to be the key differentiator in India’s ability to win matches from situations which at best could have ended in dead draws.
Viru was a touch more consistent than his contemporaries in his ability to score big hundreds. His 14 centuries of 150+ runs is testimony to this fact. Among batsmen who adopted his aggressive style, he has two triple centuries to his name, a feat only matched by the Big Jamaican Chris Gayle. Sehwag has the record for scoring the fastest triple test century in just 278 balls against South Africa at Chennai.
Sehwag’s game was ideally suited to the limited overs format where he gave flying starts to the Indian team courtesy his lethal array of shot making. Sehwag formed successful combinations with Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir over his career to lay a strong foundation for the Indian team.
Sehwag has the unique distinction of scoring a double ton in limited overs cricket, joining an elite band of batsmen which includes Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma.
Post retiring from the game, Sehwag is currently well praised throughout the country for his witty humor-filled tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitter relating to current affairs.
Virender Sehwag International Cricket Record
Test – Matches - 104 Runs - 8586 Avg. - 49.34 SR - 82.23
ODI – Matches - 251 Runs - 8273 Avg. - 35.05 SR - 104.33
