Sehwag makes Tests intriguing

[1]

Author Image:

Virender Sehwag will be one of the focal points of the second Test against England at Mumbai from Friday. I have immense respect for him as a player and it is very satisfying to see him get to that landmark.

In his case, it’s a bit more special because of the way he has adjusted in Test cricket as an opener. To be a middle order batsman and then to make that jump at the highest level speaks volumes of his talent and mental strength.
He was selected as a middle order batsman in the era of Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and myself, so giving him an opportunity in the squad was becoming difficult and I must say that in the past lot of quality players couldn’t play for India as they couldn’t break into the team.
Viru got a hundred on debut in South Africa at number 6 and I have always looked up to players scoring runs in overseas conditions. It requires specially ability and belief to do that and I knew from Day One that this player was special. I still remember the hundred in the Sri Lanka series as an opener which won us the game and took us to the finals.
He not only won it for us but also gave us the run rate which we needed to qualify. For me he is a match winner and that’s why such cricketers are special.
Viru has changed the thought process of opening batsman around the world. Openers are taught to leave deliveries around the off stump but here is one player who looks at it as a scoring opportunity. He has made players and pundits believe that runs can be scored that way.
He has scored Test triple hundreds and double hundreds in both forms of the game and in the same style. His biggest strength is that nothing fazes him — whether he has got a hundred or a zero, he plays the same way.
I have never seen a batsman whistle before going to bat and he has always done it. To me Viru is an all-time great, because he not only scores runs but changes the nature of the game and mind you he is not finished yet.
If I have to talk some of his best knocks then his triple century in Multan would be right up there. To score that many runs against the fastest in the world was just special. The way he hit Muralitharan in his double hundred at the CCI, his double hundred against Murali and Mendis in Sri Lanka, his knock in Adelaide to save the Test against Australia made the entire world sit up and take notice of his special abilities. Well done Sehwag, you have brought people back to Test cricket.
(360 Corporate Relations)