Thank you Seh’waah’g

If you ask yourself, who made Indian Test cricket look interesting, there will be hardly any doubt, that the answer would be Virender Sehwag or just Viru as all the cricket lovers around the world like to call him as. The swashbuckling opener from Delhi made the batting look as easy as a cake walk. Scoring over eight and a half thousand runs in 104 Test matches at an average of close to 50 and an attacking strike rate of over 80, is nothing less than an applauding task. If you were lost in the stats, I will quickly remind you that we are discussing about Viru’s Test record. Add to this, his blitzkrieg innings of 309 against Pakistan in Multan and 319 against the Proteas in Chennai, he is a proven run machine who can strike at his free will.

Usually any batsman who is reaching close to a century is affected by what they say in cricketing language, ‘nerves’. This man is alien to such a disorder. Sehwag is known to hit a six when he is comfortably on 95 runs or 195 runs to reach the milestone. He is truly one of the fearless cricketers that the game of cricket has ever produced.

Be it a Test match or an ODI match, Sehwag will come into bat with the same mindset. Stand and deliver. His ODI record speaks volumes of his extraordinarily aggressive style of batting. Having featured in 251 ODIs and scoring runs at more than run a ball, is a testimony to all those who rely solely on their hand-eye co-ordination for their batting. Sehwag had the honour of being the highest scorer for India with 219 runs in a one day match just before Rohit Sharma’s scintillating innings of 264 against Sri Lanka. These numbers not only speak about the monumental achievements of Sehwag but also prove the kind of value that he has added to the game of cricket. Did the Nawab of Najafgarh ever think to be associated with the league of legendary Indian batsman which consisted of the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, the ‘Wall’ Rahul Dravid, the best ever leg glancer VVS Laxman and our ‘Dada’ Sourav Ganguly? Sehwag along with these four strong men together form the famous ‘Fab5’ of Indian cricket.

Sehwag has hung his boots and will no longer play international cricket. After 0.1 overs, India 4 for no loss in a World Cup match will remain a history. Sehwag played a pivotal role in India’s success during the World Cup of 2011. After 28 years, India could clinch the World Cup, and you cannot deny the role of openers (Sehwag and Tendulkar) in this remarkable feat.

Being an opening batsman he never shied away from bowling his occasional off spins. To his name he has 96 ODI wickets and 40 Test wickets. Simply if we combine his splendid batting statistics and decent bowling records, we can fathom the magnitude of his contribution to the Indian cricket. Not only in India, but all over the world Sehwag’s bating cannot be left unappreciated. In the year 2005, Viru was named as the ICC Test player of the year. He was also awarded with the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the world for two consecutive years: 2008 and 2009.

It is said that ‘behind every successful man there is a woman’, looking at Sehwag, I am tempted to change this adage; ‘behind every successful opener there is his opening partner’. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag not only played together for Delhi but also shouldered the responsibility of opening the batting for India. Their cheeky singles and attacking stroke play have always been a treat to watch. Together they have stitched umpteen partnerships, scored tons of runs and always created a strong base for the Indian batting order. Now we only hope to have another similar kind of Gambhir-Sehwag duo for years to come.
Sehwag the swashbuckler, Sehwag the gentleman, and the cool as cucumber Sehwag will be genuinely missed by his millions of fans spread all across the globe. Sehwag has not only given Indian Test cricket a boost and a result oriented mindset but also flamboyance and ‘let my bat do the talking’ attitude. He is truly one of the wonderful brand ambassadors of the game. Hail Viru!