Sensational Sehwag

Till today, Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara were the only two members of a truly distinguished cricket club: they were the the only two to have scored two triple centuries in test cricket. Today, Virender Sehwag made history by becoming the third member of that elite club. He did so by scoring an imperious 309 n.o. against South Africa at Chennai.
Sehwag also rewrote the record books for at least the following reasons:

1. He overtook VVS Laxman to become the highest Indian run-scorer in a test match in India. Laxman’s epic 281 against Australia at Kolkata a few years ago denied Australia a victory. Let’s see if Sehwag can go one better and actualy help India win.
2. He scored more than 250 runs in one day, which must surely be a pretty rarae feat.
3. He scored the 3rd fastest double ton and the fastest triple ton (beating Hayden’s 300 off 362 balls)
4. I believe his last 10 centuries have all resulted in personal scores higher than 150- which is an unparalleled feat in the annals of cricket.
5. He is India’s only triple century scorer (In fact, he now has two under his belt). This is especially commendable because he has played most of his cricket along with greats like Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman.

His performance today is amazing for its sheer speed. His 300 came of just around 280 balls- a strike rate of over 100 in a test match. He scored 41 fours and 5 sixes. That alone comes pretty close to 200 runs!

Accolades came not just from Indian selectors and former cricketers- even South Africa’s coach Mickey Arthur described it as the “best test match innings I’ve ever seen”. Shane Warne too was quite liberal with his praise.

Whether he was motivated by Paddy Upton or Gary Kirsten, or he was trying to prove a point to the selectors and Dhoni is a moot question. What is undisputed was that Virender Sehwag, the “Nawab of Najafgarh” aka the “Sultan of Multan” played an absolutely cracker of an innings. He has single-handedly brought India to a point where, if he continues where he left off today and lasts till tea tomorrow, India could even win the match- provided the pitch crumbles and turns, as is widely expected to do on the last day and a half of the test match. Be that as it may, if Sehwag remains unbeaten at tea tomorrow, he will surely overtake Lara’s 400- the highest ever score in test match cricket. Now, wouldn’t that be just terrific?

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