Virender Sehwag: Beyond Mere Numbers

A friend who works at an MNC bank mustered enough courage to tell his boss today that post lunch, he was going to watch the Test at the Brabourne Stadium. He went back to office after the match only to see the crestfallen faces of colleagues who couldn't quite muster his kind of courage. "We were fools to miss the match", they lamented. Maybe it was fitting that those who couldn't risk antagonising their bosses missed out on seeing the biggest risk taker cricket has ever seen.
The most correct and orthodox Test cricketer of our generation was batting at the other end. He might as well have been batting in another era. When Viru is in full flow, the time tested adages of Test cricket seem like inane non-essential throwbacks to an era that is under danger of becoming irrelevant. The significance of Virender Sehwag can never be understood through mere numbers, though they in themselves are quite astonishing. Most double hundreds by an Indian. The three highest Test scores by an Indian are all from his blade. He has a chance to become the only man to score 3 Test triple centuries. He has a chance to overtake Brian Lara's 400. And all this by a man whom purists had said wouldn't be able to survive in Test cricket. But he has a far far bigger impact on the game that goes beyond even impressive statistics. Under normal circumstances, a score of 393 would seem imposing, on a track affording some turn. But when that score is overhauled at a run rate of almost 6 an over with only 1 wicket down, the word 'opposition' seems too respectful for the bowling side, 'cannon fodder' is more like it. In the first 150 runs of the partnership between Sehwag and Dravid, Dravid had contributed 45. Not bad you might say, considering Rahul's job was more to give Sehwag the strike. In the next 50 of the partnership, Dravid 'contributed' 6 runs. Make no mistake. I am not trying to belittle the Master. In fact, I got goose bumps when he came out to bat. My risk taking banker friend said it was a 'hair raising experience'. However, it only goes to say that the non-striker is also almost a non-entity when Viru is on strike. A run rate of 4 per over - which is considered pretty good in Tests even by today's T20 influenced standards - seems pedestrian, because the man never lets it fall below 5. The maddening effect he has on the crowd need not be mentioned. Suffice it to say that the North Stand at the Brabourne ran out of adjectives and started shouting 'paisa vasool' towards the end of the day. The more knowledgeable among the crowd kept exchanging incredulous "The man is crazy" looks throughout the day. The range and sheer audaciousness of his strokes needs no mention. Two shots stand out in memory for their ingenuity that reminded the bowler of the hopelessness of his calling. Bowling over the wicket in the rough outside leg stump to a packed leg side field, Rangana Herath must have pinched himself to be convinced that the first ball after tea that was nonchalantly caressed inside out through extra cover for a boundary, was actually going in that direction. Mutthiah Muralitharan must have wished he would have retired before Sehwag essayed the reverse paddle sweep to again beat the packed leg side field. These were not slogs or swipes, but products of a sharp cricketing brain that has as much mental strength as it has daredevilry. Let us once and for all stop admonishing the man's manner of playing and acknowledge that there has never been someone like him before nor will there ever be. Virender Sehwag, you are in a class of your own. I will be there at the Brabourne tomorrow to witness history being created by you.