It's Sehwag ... Again !

I hope those that happen to look at my blogs, do not form of me an impression of a parrot who keeps repeating stuff; because honestly, Virender Sehwag has left me with no other choice. After his 164 at Kanpur that was like a diamond in a heap of coal, he has followed it up with an equally belligerent and entertaining innings of 82 and if his past records are any indication this is likely to be another big hundred. There have been batsmen more consistent than him and there have been those more attacking perhaps; but it is quite impossible to remember a modern day player who combined the two as magnificently as Sehwag has. Unfortunately, I started watching cricket just after Sir Vivian Richards quit; but people who have seen him in action tell me that Sehwag is in his mold, as far as destructive ability is concerned, at any rate.

I feel that Sehwag is playing not only against South Africa but also proving a point against his own team. Every other batsman in this series has treated batting as a burden and run-scoring as a shady act that needs to be done quietly and secretively, not so Sehwag. He is playing the game in the way it should be played.

Dileep Premachandran minces no words as he describes South Africa's approach to batting on this tour while heaping praise on Sehwag in the process. Seems like South Africa's batting tactics are catching on pretty fast. First, the Indians (barring Sehwag) returned the favor and today even the great Aussies (Langer, Hayden, Martyn and Ponting) scored at just about 2.5 per over inspite of having a mammoth lead.