The second Test match between India and England will be extra special for Virender Sehwag because it is going to be his 100th Test Match.
Every player will accept the fact that representing their country in Tests is the highest honor for a player and to complete 100 Test matches is a great achievement.
Test cricket is the ultimate test for a player and only great players go on and play 100 matches. Sehwag in a recent press conference said that his dream was the play cricket for India. Once he got that opportunity his next dream was to play 100 Test matchers and he is soon going to achieve that dream as well.
Sehwag said that he hopes that he will contribute in a big way in this memorable match and going by the way he started the innings it won’t be a surprise if he pulls a biggy.
Sehwag has been great for India since he started, yes he has had some lean patches but that you associate with a player of his style. The impact he has had on the Indian team and he brought a lot of positivity to the way Indians played. Ask any of his captain, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble or MS Dhoni they all want Sehwag in their playing eleven no matter what.
With Gambhir he forms one of the best opening pairs of all time, the first time that the two got together was in 2004 and they immediately tasted success as the two put up 218 runs against South Africa in their third innings together. Till now they have opened in 82 innings together, they have scored 4244 runs at an average of 53.72. Together the two have got more than 100 run partnership 11 times, with two of them being above 200. 24 times they have scored more than 50 runs together.
The most important thing about Sehwag is the contribution he has had in the matches that India has won since the time he started playing. Sehwag averages 56.9 in the matches that India has won when he has been in the playing eleven. It is much more than his career average which is 50.89.
Let’s have a look at some of his most memorable innings in Test matches:
319 against South Africa in March 2008 at Chennai, Result: Match Drawn
This was the first match of the three match Test series. South Africa in pursuit of a series win put up 540 on the board in the first innings. India needed a solid reply upfront and Sehwag took the onus upon himself. Playing against an attack that had the likes of Steyn, Morkel, Ntini, and Kallis started an onslaught on them. He kept going strong with each session and scored runs at an unbelievable pace. He made 319 runs with a strike-rate over 100. This was Sehwag’s second triple-hundred and he considers it to be the better of the two as it was against a tougher bowling attack.
309 against Pakistan in April 2004 at Multan, Result: India won by an innings and 52 runs
India were touring Pakistan after a long time and both teams won one game each. This was the first game of the series and India decided to bat on what looked like a flat wicket. Sehwag started the innings brilliantly and quickly got into his strides. The rate at which he scored runs was phenomenal throughout his innings. He hit 39 boundaries and six sixes in his innings. Saqlain Mushtaq who is one of the all time best off-spinners ended with figures of 1-204 in 43 overs. That shows the impact Sehwag had on the bowling. India went on to win the match and the series.
201* against Sri Lanka in August 2008 at Galle, Result: India won by 170 runs
This was the series where ‘mystery spinner’ Ajantha Mendis made his debut and everyone will remember the way he tormented Indian batsmen. There was only one player who was able to solve Mendis’ mystery and that was Virender Sehwag. India were 1-0 down and Sehwag came up with an innings of the series. He batted right through the innings and carried his bat which is always a great thing to do for an opener. Sehwag scored 201 runs out of the 329 that the Indian team scored. India won the match but lost the series 2-1.
195 against Australia in Dec. 2003 at Melbourne, Result: India lost by nine wickets.
India lost this match but the innings Sehwag played had great influence on the series. India elected to bat on a pitch that had a lot of bounce and pace, Sehwag was a bit circumspect starting his innings and soon got to his hitting best. Facing a solid Australian attack, Sehwag made runs at a brisk pace and continued with his innings even though he kept losing partners at the other end. It was great to see a sub-continent batsman dominating the Australian attack in Australia.
293 against Sri Lanka in Dec. 2009 at Mumbai, Result: India won by an innings and 24 runs
It was the final match of the series with India leading 1-0, Sri Lanka had everything to play for and they got a good total of 393 runs in their first innings. Virender Sewhag lead the Indian reply with a scintillating innings. He attacked from the very beginning and kept hitting the Sri Lankan bowlers to every part of the ground till the end. India batted for 79 overs in the day and Sehwag scored 284 runs in those overs. He missed his third triple hundred by just seven runs. His strike-rate in the innings was an unbelievable 115.
By Indian Sports News Network
