THE RISE AND FALL OF VIRENDER SEHWAG

5ft tall , massive bat, great power, aggressive batsman, doesn’t matter whether it is a test or a T20 or an ODI, great eyes, a wonderful slip fielder and the batsman who changed Test Cricket into and ODI or T20 format, and always heard the words ”Sehwag,Sehwag” from crowds whenever he came out to bat, and any bowler in this world would always fear to bowl to him, because if he gets hold of the cricket ball, the destination is none other than the boundary ropes.

The player who I am describing is none other than the dashing Delhi opener, the Nawab of Najafgarh, Virender Sehwag. He is one of the most decorated batsman in the history in Indian cricket. He is the fastest to score a triple century in test cricket and is one of the rare batsman to score 2 triple centuries.Also not to forget, he formed an amazing top order pair for india with Gautam Gambhir. He was a menace for any team at any time under Gary Kirsten, but suddenly after Duncan Fletcher arrived, he has struggled to cement his place in the Indian team with the new arrivals of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay who have excelled after being given chances. Many also fear that Sehwag’s Indian carrier is DONE.

Sehwag made his first appearance in an ODI against Pakistan where he scored only 1 and conceded 35 runs off 3 overs. This made him to be out of the ODI squad for the next 1 and a half years.

However he became prominent against Australia when he scored a brisk 58 in Bangalore. He wouldn’t have been given first choice priorities at that time had Sachin and Ganguly not been injured. But he made them count as he started to grow in stature,and this eventually made him India’s main top order batsman. He eventually carried on for several years with good performance under John Wright. After modest returns on the tours of the West Indies and England in early and mid 2002, he scored 271 runs at 90.33 in the 2002 ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY in Sri Lanka, with two man of the match performances.

But in the 2003 World Cup, his performance was average barring the 82 he scored the huge loss in the final to the Invincible Aussies.

Even with his inconsistent form, he earned 3 MoM awards in 2004/5 and 2004/05 ODI season with one award each against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the match against Pakistan in Kochi he scored 108 off 95 balls, his first century in eighteen months

Unfortunately, his next two years were without centuries.

He was surprisingly picked up for the 2007 World Cup by Rahul Dravid, and scored a blistering 114 off 87 balls against lowly ranked Bermuda. It was also one of India’s worst World Cup campaigns, crashing out of the group stage with losses against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

In 2011, when India toured the KIWIS, Sehwag smashed the fastest hundred by an Indian batsman in New Zealand soil, a hundred off just 60 balls.

Sehwag had an excellent World Cup 2011, and his dream of lifting the World cup came true, even though he didn’t trouble the scorers in the final. But he made India to get there due to some excellent performances in the group stages, notably the 175 in the first match of the World Cup.

He posted highest individual score by a batsman in ODI smashing 219 off 149 balls against the West Indies in Indore.

His slump in form began and he performed poorly in the series Down Under, scoring at an average less than 20 in the 5 innings he played. He was also rumoured having rifts with the captain Dhoni . He was also dropped from the Champions Trophy squad, many reports suggesting that Sehwag’s reign at the top of the order is WELL AND TRULY OVER.

TEST CAREER:-

Sehwag made his test debut in Bloemfontain against South Afirca scoring a century in less than a run-a-ball, but eventually India lost the test match.

He scored 195 in the Boxing Day Test in 2003, but his dismissal triggered a collapse and eventually India lost the match.

He was one of the rare few elements to treat a Test match as a T20. He established so many records in his career

He scored the second fastest 200 after Nathan Astle and one of the few batsman to score 2 triple centuries

His test record is just impeccable. Under Gary Kirsten and other coaches Sehwag played pivotal roles in saving India from defeats and also converting them to victories. He was dropped from the first two tests in the series Down Under in 2008, but when he returned for the next 2 tests, Sehwag almost scored 2 hundreds as he won the third test at the WACA, halting Australia’s 16 consecutive wins at home.

He however has a superb record against Pakistan, having an average of over 90, including a triple century against India’s arch-rivals.

T20:-

Sehwag’s record in T20’s is not that great. He had a good 2007 world T20 scoring runs at a brisk rate against New Zealand. He was injured in the 2009 and 2010 versions and had a mediocre 2012 world T20. He has retired from T20 internationals to focus on other formats

IPL:-

A Delhi boy, always wanted to be a captain, he became the captain for the first 3 IPL’s and again regained captaincy in the 2012 IPL, where he was the only player to record 5 successive half-centuries. Sehwag has had a successful stint at the IPL till now.

Beware, all bowlers in the world you might be rejoicing that Sehwag isn’t playing now, but he will surely be back with the BANG and return all guns blazing, and rip apart every single bowler or a part time spinner. He has records not even many people can dream of, a strike rate unmatchable in Test version, ODI doesn’t need an invitation. He is in his transition phase right now, which everyone ought to undergo, and a few bad performances doesn’t make him a bad player.