An analysis of Virender Sehwag's Test career runs

Sehwag was the most attacking batsman of his time

A cricketer who entertained the fans throughout his career irrespective of the format, match situation, opposition, bowler, pitch, conditions, etc. has decided to retire from all forms of International cricket and IPL. Easily the most destructive batsman of this century, Virender Sehwag announced his retirement on his 37th birthday.

It is now official that the cricket world will not see Virender Sehwag smash those fearless boundaries for India and in the Indian Premier League. On this occasion, let’s analyse Sehwag’s Test career runs.

Sehwag’s Test career:

Batting:

Mat

Inns

No

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

200s

300s

HS

104

180

6

8586

49.34

82.33

23

32

6

2

319

Bowling:

Mat

Inns

Wkts

Ave

Eco

S/R

5WIs

BBI

BBM

103

91

40

47.35

3.04

93.2

1

5/104

5/118

Every 1000 Test runs:

Runs

Inns

Runs in that innings

Against

Venue

Date

1000

24

130

New Zealand

Mohali

18-Oct-03

2000

38

155

Australia

Chepauk

15-Oct-04

3000

55

201

Pakistan

Chinnaswamy

26-Mar-05

4000

79

65

West Indies

St Kitts

26-Jun-06

5000

99

201*

Sri Lanka

Galle

01-Aug-08

6000

123

293

Sri Lanka

Brabourne

03-Dec-09

7000

134

109

Sri Lanka

Colombo (PSS)

04-Aug-10

8000

160

67

Australia

MCG

27-Dec-11

  • Sehwag began his Test career with a century and also completed 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 Test runs with a century in that innings.
  • He scored half-centuries in that innings in which he scored his 4000th and 8000th Test runs.

Split-up of every 30 Test innings:

Innings

Runs

No

Ave

100s

50s

1 to 30

1383

0

46.10

5

4

31 to 60

1874

2

66.93

5

6

61 to 90

1033

1

35.62

2

3

91 to 120

1483

1

51.14

3

5

121 to 150

1921

2

68.61

7

9

151 to 180

892

0

29.73

1

5

Against each team

Against

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

Australia

23

45

1

1821

41.38

75.68

3

10

3

195

Bangladesh

4

6

1

176

35.20

84.61

0

2

0

56

England

17

29

1

821

29.32

75.39

2

4

7

117

New Zealand

12

21

1

883

44.15

83.38

2

3

0

173

Pakistan

9

14

0

1276

91.14

80.20

4

2

1

309

South Africa

15

26

0

1306

50.23

80.56

5

2

2

319

Sri Lanka

11

18

1

1239

72.88

99.83

5

3

2

293

West Indies

10

17

0

888

52.23

88.35

2

5

1

180

Zimbabwe

3

4

1

176

58.66

79.63

0

1

0

74

  • Sehwag averaged at least 40 against seven teams. He averaged just 35.20 against Bangladesh and 29.32 against England.
  • Interestingly, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are the only two teams against which Sehwag did not score any century in Tests.
  • Sehwag scored at least two Test centuries against each of the other seven teams.
  • Sehwag’s average of 91.14 against Pakistan is the highest by any batsman against the team among all who scored over 1000 runs against Pakistan. Next best average against Pakistan is 79.23 by Mark Taylor of Australia.
  • Sehwag had a strike rate of 99.83 against Sri Lanka which is highest by any batsman who scored a minimum of 500 runs against Sri Lanka.

In each country

Host

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

Australia

11

22

0

1031

46.86

74.6

2

5

2

195

Bangladesh

4

6

1

176

35.20

84.61

0

2

0

56

England

6

10

0

278

27.80

64.5

1

1

3

106

India

52

89

3

4656

54.13

83.42

13

19

6

319

New Zealand

5

9

0

180

20.00

97.29

0

0

0

48

Pakistan

6

8

0

732

91.50

85.91

2

1

1

309

South Africa

8

15

0

382

25.46

67.85

1

1

2

105

Sri Lanka

6

11

1

692

69.20

95.71

3

2

1

201*

West Indies

4

7

0

357

51.00

86.44

1

1

1

180

Zimbabwe

2

3

1

102

51.00

99.02

0

0

0

44

  • Bangladesh, New Zealand and Zimbabwe are the only countries where Sehwag failed to score a Test century.
  • Virender Sehwag averaged 91.50 in Pakistan. The only batsman who averaged more than Sehwag having scored 500+ runs is Sanjay Manjrekar (94.83).

Home vs Away:

Venue

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

In India

52

89

3

4656

54.13

83.42

13

19

6

319

Outside India

52

91

3

3930

44.65

80.86

10

13

10

309

In Asia vs Outside Asia

Continent

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

In Asia

68

114

5

6256

57.39

84.95

18

24

8

319

Outside Asia

36

66

1

2330

35.84

75.72

5

8

8

195

Team’s innings wise

Inning

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

Team's 1st innings

104

1

6438

62.50

83.18

22

18

8

319

Team's 2nd innings

76

5

2148

30.25

79.49

1

14

8

151

  • Sehwag’s only Test century in the second innings was his 151 against Australia at Adelaide in 2007/08.

Match’s innings wise

Inning

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

Match's 1st innings

46

1

2615

58.11

80.19

10

5

5

309

Match's 2nd innings

58

0

3823

65.91

85.37

12

13

3

319

Match's 3rd innings

42

0

1247

29.69

78.03

1

6

3

151

Match's 4th innings

34

5

901

31.06

81.61

0

8

5

83

Under each captain

Captain

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

Anil Kumble

9

17

1

1040

65.00

83.93

3

2

0

319

Graeme Smith

1

2

0

83

41.50

87.36

0

1

0

76

MS Dhoni

40

70

2

3158

46.44

90.46

8

16

7

293

Rahul Dravid

19

33

1

1533

47.90

79.22

4

4

4

309

Sourav Ganguly

31

50

2

2519

52.47

73.67

8

7

4

201

Virender Sehwag

4

8

0

253

31.62

96.56

0

2

1

62

  • Sehwag averaged 52.47 under Ganguly and 46.44 under Dhoni.
  • Sehwag played one match for ICC World XI in which Graeme Smith was the captain.

Year wise

Year

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

Avg

S/R

100s

50s

Ducks

HS

2001

4

5

0

235

47.00

65.27

1

1

0

105

2002

10

16

0

637

39.81

72.63

2

3

1

147

2003

5

10

0

522

52.20

73.21

2

0

1

195

2004

12

19

1

1141

63.38

73.61

3

4

2

309

2005

8

14

1

785

60.38

78.42

2

2

1

201

2006

12

21

1

791

39.55

84.96

2

2

4

254

2007

1

2

0

44

22.00

83.01

0

0

0

40

2008

14

27

1

1462

56.23

85.84

3

6

1

319

2009

6

9

0

631

70.11

108.98

2

1

0

293

2010

14

25

2

1422

61.82

90.80

5

8

2

173

2011

7

13

0

384

29.53

80.16

0

4

2

67

2012

9

16

0

505

31.56

87.67

1

1

2

117

2013

2

3

0

27

9.00

50.94

0

0

0

19

  • Sehwag averaged more than 50 in three consecutive years twice in his career – 2003, 2004, 2005 and then 2008, 2009, 2010.
  • Sehwag scored at least one century each year from 2001 to 2010 except in 2007 when he played only 1 test match.
  • Sehwag scored 1462 runs in 2008 and 1422 runs in 2010 but could end up only as the second highest run-getter in those calendar years.

Thank you, Sehwag for a glorious career and your name will always be remembered forever!

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