Virender Sehwag

He played a gem yesterday. Finished watching the highlights twice. Well, cricket is after all a sport but if it can entertain you its more than sport. Lets look at the situation of the innings here. England were well on top with near 300 runs lead with 7 wickets in hand. They scored their remaining 85 runs slowly (i know its an understatement!) The reasons the pitch was crumbling and so they played cautiously. Well at tea they declare with India left to chase 387. Out comes Sehwag and beats the hell out of the English bowlers. England in the entire post lunch session scored 2 boundaries i.e. 2 fours in nearly 25 overs. Sehwag hit 6 4's in his first 15 balls. Can you see the difference? To play at a level that nobody else can even come close to is generally attributed to Tendulkar. But I think there is genuine reason to put Sehwag right up there at least now*. Tendulkar did that to bowling attacks in the past but the way he did it was much more normal. What Sehwag does is outrageuos to say the least. The first ball he faced of Monty was deposited in the stands. That for me is a statement. Also, his contribution is not just in terms of runs. His batting has impacted the English bowler's psyche. Also it should give confidence to the rest of the batsman.

I really hope now India get the job done. We surely have the batting to get the job done! For Dravid's sake I hope he will come good. Please dude play a good innings tomorrow!

Update: A nice piece here
This excerpt is pretty funny

When, in the tenth over of the innings, he pushed a single into the on side - just to show he could - it brought up his half-century from 32 balls. There are 11 instances of faster fifties in Tests but none by an opener. Things have certainly moved on a bit since Geoff Boycott's day.

*If you do not agree with that assertion go screw youself!