A man called Virender Sehwag

By John Cheeran
There goes a man by the name of Virender Sehwag in India. He can bat, they say.
Sehwag has asked some fundamental questions regarding batsmanship as few others have not done in modern cricket. May be another name could be Sanath Jayasuriya.
Sehwag has delighted millions by his boisterous batting but more often than not he also has confounded critics by his seemingly wanton ways at the wicket.
But the point is that in terms of sheer impact, Sehwag has played some defining knocks in world cricket, and may be among his contemporaries only VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid have entered that league.
Sehwag's unbeaten 201 off 211 balls in India's first innings total of 329 in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Galle is simply a mind boggling effort. It is not just talent alone that Sehwag brings to the crease. He of course has a game plan, but he prefers not to discuss it with us commentators and critics.
The basic nature of Virender Sehwag's batting has not changed since he began to play for India as a lower middle order bat in mid 90s. Sehwag leaves his cricket pretty uncomplicated and his fearless attitude towards rival bowlers as well as to the whole process of playing cricket has helped him achieve what more feted and seasoned batsmen have not so far. Sehwag plays fast, scores big and that alone has contributed a great deal towards Indian cricket's resurgence in the 2000s.
Yes, Sehwag is the only Indian batsman who has two triple centuries to his credit, a feat only Donald Bradmana and Brian Lara has achieved.
Nothing succeeds like success.
Now that Sehwag has overcome a mid career crisis that emboldened chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar almost push him out of the 2007 World Cup squad, we can be unstinted in his praise. Sehwag knows little of traditions and goes about scoring runs in his own way, often infuriating watchers, as he did in the second innings of the Colombo Test, but he has a way of pleasing his own gods. Nothing else can explain the commanding way Sehwag handled the freak spin duo of Muttaiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in Galle. Just consider the fact the trinity - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly -- could not together score 10 runs in the first innings puts Sehwag's unconquered innings in perspective.
May be gambling is also a science, and living life in its many splendoured varieties takes a lot from a man.
Attacking approach, the Twenty20 approach to life, is not all that bad when you are looking at the scoreboard in Galle and marvel at Sehwag's Hanumanesque effort in Lanka.