Indian Cricket- Before & After Sehwag

"The Sultan Of Multan- Virender Sehwag"

It was the year 1999 when Virender Sehwag first appeared on the horizon of International Cricket. His first impressions were in fact not his first ones as his body language and mannerisms were so much akin to his Idol (read Sachin Tendulkar), that people often confused him with Tendulkar whenever the duo were punishing the opposition bowlers in tandem.

Image- www.espncricinfo.com

It was not a meteoric rise for Sehwag. He had his share of struggles before settling in the the team and becoming a regular in all the formats, i.e.- Tests & ODIs (and later, T20Is). Sehwag batted in his own style, never going by the reputation of the bowlers. He treated McGrath, Lee, Warne, Pollock, Akhtar, Vaas, Olonga  et al. with same disdain, showing no mercy whatsoever.

Indian Cricket (specially Test) can easily be defined in two phases- Before Sehwag Era & After Sehwag Era. Sehwag changed the way Test cricket was being played in India. After his arrival, India could think of passing a score of 300 on day 1 of a test match. He, on so many occassions, changed the course of the match single-handedly. The only Indian player to score two triple centuries, he could dare not to listen to Sachin as he backed his abilities in scoring sixes even when on being 295. On foreign soil, if the bowlers were wreckers-in-chief, Sehwag was the destroyer. He would tackle the swing and spin (if any) with dexterity of a fox.

Who can forget his innings in New Zealand? When the whole team would not be able to reach even double figure, Sehwag will go on to score a century with the same speed when batting with a top order batsman in a good situation. He was equally good on the tours of England, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan.

When you achieve success, your critics are also born! Sehwag, by continuing his style of batting, got out at crucial moments. Critics started blaming him (lack of feet movement, inability to handle the short ball well and so on).

Image- www.thehindubusinessline.com

But against all the odds, he achieved the success that one can dream of. He is the only Indian batsman to have scored 2 triple tons (not to forget the huge scores of 293, Mumbai, 2009; 195, Melbourne, 2003; 180, Gros Islet, 2006; 173, Mohali, 2005; 173, Ahmedabad, 2010).

Cricketers will come and go but the legend of Sehwag will always be etched in the memory of the lovers of the game which lost yet another Gentleman. Here is wishing the "Nawab Of Najafgarh" a happy and successful second innings. Long Live Viru!

 

Source : articlesbase.com