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virender-sehwag
Sehwag rides the wave
By Will 1 month ago, 7 Comments »
Virender Sehwag has done it again. A fourth consecutive hundred in home Tests; a fourth ton in his last Test six Tests. That’s good enough as it stands, but consider his strike rates: 107.37 during his 131; his 293 against Sri Lanka lasted 254 fleeting deliveries. His overall strike-rate – get this – is 80.57. Cavalier, uncomplicated, selfish even: but a natural batsman and, moreover, entertainer.
A colleague wondered whether he’ll become the all-time great batsman, which is probably pushing it. But already he’s transformed opening batting like nobody thought was possible (and for that, should we thank ODIs? We’ll leave that for another day), and long may it last.
The only downer to Sehwag’s derring do are the comments from his gushing fans, which convey someone on the verge of their first orgasm in months:
It is always such an immense pleasure to see Sehwag and Sachin bat together – they use their bats like ageold gladiators sporting a menacing Excalibur. Sachin, the master, is sheer poetry ala Dravid these days, the effortless ease with which the ball seems to kiss and run away from the bat is like Wordsworth. Sehwag, the pupil, is a rock star who fuses raagas. Mindblowing combination really – speechless, words are fewer than runs to describe the game.
Steady on.
7 Comments »Video of Sehwag’s 293 v Sri Lanka
By Will 2 months ago, No Comments; be the first!
If anyone has it, do leave a comment. Not yet seen a single ball of it.
No Comments »Sehwag the new Bradman?
By Will 2 months ago, 10 Comments »
A slightly sensationalistic headline for Ian Chappell’s latest column at Cricinfo, but he has statistics to back up the outlandish claim:
10 Comments »Sehwag has often said he doesn’t think too much when he’s batting. A wise man. After years of speculation about what, apart from his enormous skill, made Sir Donald Bradman so great, I’ve come to the conclusion that a crucial attribute was his ability to bat with an uncluttered mind. That’s not all Sehwag has in common with Bradman. They are the only batsmen to surpass 290 three times in Test cricket. They also comfortably have the best strike rate among the high scorers of their generation. This leads to an interesting thought on batsmanship: should greater consideration be given to stroke production rather than technique in moulding young batsmen? After all, efficient run-scoring is not just a statistical exercise, it’s the first rung on the climb to victory
Whither, Test cricket?
By Will last year, at the end of November, 13 Comments »
Friends keep asking me lately whether I’m missing covering cricket since I moved jobs. There’s no doubt I will miss it, probably when England’s Test series gets underway and certainly if Kevin Pietersen inhales the pantomime-fury foaming from the stands to cough out something truly spectacular.
But no, I won’t miss it so long as there are pitches as spirit-crushingly lifeless as the one at Kanpur. India are 417 for 2 at stumps on the first day. Ninety overs of tedium. Three sessions of bat dominating ball, crushing bowlers’ will to live and bowl. This could be classed as entertainment, and I’m sure millions of Indians loved the sight of Gambhir and Sehwag flogging it willy-nilly to all parts. But I’m equally sure that a sizeable portion of them craved to watch the nuance of technical discipline and, well, competition.
There are lots of partly cynical, often highly plausible, reasons for the state of Test cricket being in its current apparently precarious position. Pitches are certainly a factor. And there’s one thought that the TV companies demand – sorry, politely request – that matches last as long as possible in order to drive up their revenues. This means one thing: a dead pitch, lots of batting, definitely plenty of fours, and a greater chance of the match being extended into five days.
But sooner or later, this greed for cash – by whom we’re not sure or at liberty to suggest – will come back to haunt them, because I sense a very strong sense of pissed-offness by fans these days who are no longer willing to be conned by these turgid concrete slabs which offer so little to the game, rendering captaincy and tactics almost redundant and leaving bowlers reaching for diazepam or a long piece of rope. Bowlers, fans – whatever.
Yes, the game is a business. Cricinfo makes money out of it. So do dozens of TV channels. Sport is huge business. But if you don’t protect the essential fabrics of the product, those interested in making money out of it will soon disappear. And what state would the sport be in then?
13 Comments »Well played India
By Will 2 years ago, mid-December, 25 Comments »
Three cheers to India for winning a superb Test. That it took place at all was a surprise. That Sachin Tendulkar hit the winning runs, bringing up his hundred in the process, was a script not even his mother could have written. It was a bizarrely pristine and classic manner in which to end a Test whose preparations were blighted not by rain, or poor form, or injuries, but by terror.
There will be some sickly and romantic notions in the coming days that this win has shoved it up the terrorists. That India have won and the terrorists have lost. And it’s true that without the Mumbai terrorist strikes, we wouldn’t be feeling like we are at the moment. England’s supporters can be proud of a team who, for three-and-a-half days, dominated a Test on the subcontinent. India’s are ecstatic for two brilliant performances which propelled an unlikely win. Even removing the context of Mumbai, India’s win today was hugely significant.
Impressive for its boldness, but what struck me (I’ve only seen highlights so don’t shout me down) is how un-Indian their approach was. India have occasionally produced bullet wins out of nowhere before tripping up. Yet this win had a composure and belief about it. Granted, Virender Sehwag’s Gilchristian attack on the fourth day provided much of the belief (and vital runs), and who else would you rather have anchor a fifth-day chase than Tendulkar? But those two huge figures aside, India rose to the occasion when it mattered and believed they could win more than England.
One word of warning: don’t let’s compare India to Australia. It’ll happen – let’s face it, India is going to be drunk on this for days on end – but it would be premature to suggest they are the new No.1, however much their fans demand it be true. They’re definitely on the right track though.
So too, I think, are England. India is the hardest place to tour and they dominated much of the Test when nobody expected them to. That they lost it in the last day-and-a-half nevertheless suggests Kevin Pietersen will be as sleepless in Mohali as he has reportedly been in Chennai.
Indian fans, by all means praise your team to the hilt … but non-Indian fans, do also wade in. Anyone from South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan or wherever else, post your thoughts below.
25 Comments »Sehwag sets the trend
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of March, No Comments; be the first!
Google has transformed the way we use the internet, and has been an invaluable (irreplaceable?) tool for journalists. Gone are the days when every hack shuffled into the press box armed with a briefcase of brick-heavy Wisdens. Who needs it when you have Cricinfo at your beck and call?
But anyway. Google do clever things and make all the geeky stuff easier for us slightly less geeky people. After Virender Sehwag’s 309 today, his is the most frequently searched term on Google India…but just look at the top 14: nine of them relate to the current match. Granted, not everyone in India has an internet connection, but that’s still a huge number of people who are getting online and looking for stuff on Sehwag. Extraordinary really.
No Comments »Virender Sehwag goes a little bit bonkers
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of March, 29 Comments »
I suppose I should salvage what few Indian fans I have left by at least mentioning Sehwag’s blistering knock today. Truth is, I only caught brief glimpses of it – just as much fun can be had getting your head around the legalese of the ICL and county players – but it was the speed of his innings which most stood out. He only has two gears: quite fast and very fast. And his footwork – or lack of – was fascinating to watch. He barely moved them an inch, at least to those few scorching drives I witnessed, which tells us two things: he has a ridiculously good eye and fast hands, and the pitch is a screamer.
There was one particularly deft back-cut (you can never have enough late cuts, I say) which sped past the lone slip for four – a model of timing, placement and bravado. His feet didn’t move, he just wafted the bat and it flew away for four. When you’re on a roll…
Still, I was slightly alarmed by all the praise. “Sehwag is an all-time Indian great,” commentators gushed. Steady on. He’s unstoppable on his day, and if South Africa keep feeding him boundary balls he’ll give Brian Lara’s record a run for its money. But he’s no Lara.
Is he?
29 Comments »Sehwag’s 180
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, 2 Comments »
Blink for a day and you miss an innings. Not been around much to follow any cricket, but have just noticed Virender Sehwag (who I sometimes inadvertantly call Segwah) crunched (smashed, clobbered, belted, pelted) 180 from 190 balls. Ugly! His career strike-rate is now at the obscene average of over 75 which, considering he’s 44 runs from 4000 in Test cricket, is a damn spiffing effort.
Day two is about to start.
2 Comments »Tsunami match at Lords: the Teams
By Will 5 years ago, mid-June, 3 Comments »
The team-sheet for tomorrow’s game has changed since it was announced a month ago – here’re the finalised teams:
MCC: SP Fleming (captain); CH Gayle, S Ganguly, VVS Laxman, JH Kallis, A Flower, KC Sangakarra, SM Pollock, A Kumble, H Singh, S Akhtar.
International XI: BC Lara (captain), V Sehwag, ST Jayasuriya, GC Smith, RS Dravid, S Chanderpaul, CL Cairns, SK Warne, WPUJC Vaas, M Sami, N Ntini.
Some handy players there. Looking forward, in particular, to seeing Laxman (whose name I think is pronounced correctly as “Latchman”?), Gayle, Shoaib, Sehwag and Cairns. The rest? Well, they’re just making up the numbers, aren’t they?
I’ll be blogging, live from the ground with anything I think might be interesting. There are some big hitters in both sides – I’ll need to keep my eye on the ball, something I was never particularly good at…
3 Comments »Player notes: Virender Sehwag
By Will 6 years ago, at the end of November, 3 Comments »
On India’s 2002 tour to England I saw a sign from an Indian supporter: Tendulkar the new Bradman; Sehwag the new Tendulkar.” It was met mainly with knowing nods from Indian supporters & polite smiles from the English. England knew of Sehwag’s talents, but were also aware of his faults and the chances he gave; he was/is such an aggressive player that he’s bound to give chances to the slips and gully (and even 3rd man for the “up and over”).
Things have changed though. The sceptiscm is now undeserved – you only need to look at his record. Remember, this guy has only played 28 matches…
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
28 46 1 2414 309 53.64 72.49 8 7 26 0
Averaging nearly 73 in Test Cricket – as an opener! – is very good. It’s outstanding and pretty rare. If he continues at this rate, he could end up with over 8000 runs and 20 centuries and that old banner I saw in 2002 may not be so far off the mark
3 Comments »