No clone of Sachin, Sehwag is an original in every sense

Ayaz Memon

It was tempting to have Virender Sehwag displace Aravinda de Silva as cricket’s Mad Max, but that would still be short-changing the explosive Indian opener. Good lord, only two batsmen in the history of the game — who incidentally answer to the names of Donald Bradman and Brian Lara — have ever made two Test triple hundreds, so of what value a fancy title? Aravinda can remain Mad Max; Sehwag, like Bradman and Lara, will carry his fame on his own name.

Let’s harp a little more on the triple century aspect. In a little over 130 years that Test cricket has been played, only 22 triple centuries have been scored and quite astonishingly none by an Indian till Sehwag broke the jinx with his spectacular 309 against Pakistan in 2004 and now he has done it again at the quickest rate ever. That gives an idea not just of the rarity of the event, but of the calibre of the player too.

Given the manner in which Sehwag has batted yet in Chennai, I reckon Lara will have slept uneasily, knowing full well that his name from the record books (400 run is the highest individual innings) could be erased. Indeed, if Sehwag bats till lunch today, Lara could be a goner within the first couple of hours on the fourth day.

Ironically, though, despite his high-scoring Sehwag has never enjoyed unimpeachable reputation that even lesser batsmen than Bradman and Lara have enjoyed. For the better part of his eight-year career, he has been viewed as something of a cricketing freak: Exciting to watch, but unpredictable and unreliable and, alas all too often, even dispensable. Why, he was a last-minute inclusion for the Australian tour, and may not have played a single Test had Wasim Jaffer not been reduced to a run-less statue Down Under. When he got the opportunity, Sehwag seized it with both hands. His blazing bat helped India win a historic Test at Perth and save the Adelaide game, in which he made a furious 151 even as wickets fell around him.

Sehwag now has back-to-back centuries, in two vastly differing conditions and against two very good bowling attacks. That shows not just his virtuosity, but also versatility. It must be conceded that the Chennai track has shown itself to be shockingly docile yet, but so frenetic has been Sehwag’s scoring rate that Graeme Smith must be wondering whether his team is safe despite having made 540 runs batting first.

Indeed, the pace at which Sehwag scores his runs (his strike rate is approx 75/100 balls) is tribute to his greatness, not his vulnerability as was widely believed. No other contemporary specialist bats as freely as him, save the recently retired Adam Gilchrist, nobody seems as disdainful of personal scores and records. Incredibly for a batsman who rides so many risks, Sehwag averages in the mid-50s, which is touted as the statistical landmark that defines a batsman’s greatness. But stats can only explain the Sehwag phenomenon partly; for the greater, you have to watch him bat and let your adrenaline run with his.

It’s been an extraordinary innings from an extraordinary player and only the extremely silly or sinister can still harbour doubts his ability — technique as well as temperament. He started his cricket life as a clone of Sachin Tendulkar, but even the master will now concede that Sehwag is fearless.