The Hindu : Sport : Sehwag's batting carries the day for India

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Sunday, Mar 27, 2005

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Sehwag's batting carries the day for India

By S. Dinakar

A LAPSE IN CONCENTRATION: Danish Kaneria is all set to take the return catch offered by Virender Sehwag. - Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE, MARCH 26. On Friday evening, with India facing a mountain of runs, he had entered the arena, looking up towards the sun, twirling his arm and his willow, launching into imaginary strokes even as he walked, quickening the pace of his footsteps as he neared the pitch, his body-language oozing with his aggressive instinct in a situation where most batsmen would have just sought to play out time. Virender Sehwag's batsmanship has the spirit of the great adventurers.

Sehwag gave the ball a hearty thump on day two, and then continued to dismiss the sphere ruthlessly on Saturday during his hugely entertaining 201 in the third TVS Cup Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. India, having avoided the follow-on, was 379 for six at stumps, still 191 runs adrift of Pakistan's first innings score. This match could throw up an interesting finish if a few cracks on the surface widen. Batting might not be an easy job on the final day.

Apart from Sehwag's laudable effort, V.V.S. Laxman, who was promoted up the order and who was in need of runs, produced a responsible unbeaten 51 in a stressful period, and his driving through the off-side was exquisite. However, India lost a crucial wicket at the fag end of the third day when Dinesh Kaarthick's cut off the hard-working Mohammed Sami was held at point.

The paradox

Back to Sehwag. This man can upset all game-plans, turn the match on its head, and leave the opposition with mental scars. Pakistan had the runs to turn on the heat on India, but on a day when he became the fastest Indian to cross 3,000 Test runs (in his 55th innings), this influential batsman's strokes scorched the turf here. Sehwag's methods are simple — he picks the length of the ball earlier than most, hits through the line and finds the gaps with subtle changes in wristwork. Paradoxically, despite limited footwork, he is relatively well balanced. There is an economy of movement in his batting that blends with his technique.

DASHING DOUBLE: A typically belligerent double century by Virender Sehwag (201) piloted India to 379 for six in the third Test against Pakistan in Bangalore on Saturday. In six Tests against Pakistan, the Indian opener has scored 944 runs at an average of 104.88. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Importantly, he has evolved as a batsman. These days, Sehwag is handling the short-pitched stuff from the quicks much better, while he is definitely more fluent on the onside. In the morning session, Sami probed him with some well-directed lifting deliveries, but Sehwag held firm. On the off-side, he is the King. Here, he can create room for the cut even if he is not provided the width and a bowler has to get it dead right. If the delivery is fuller in length, he will smack it down the ground. In other words, he is an extremely difficult batsman to bowl at.

On Saturday, Sehwag gave a hint of a chance at 43 when Asim Kamal failed to latch on to a reflex catch at short-leg; off-spinner Arshad Khan was the bowler to suffer. The opener soon changed gears. Whether smashing Sami through the covers, square-cutting Arshad, whipping Razzaq to the square-leg fence, or dumping Kaneria over the mid-wicket ropes, Sehwag was in his element. He reached his 10th Test hundred in 138 balls with a single off Kaneria, got to his double century in 260 with a miscued stroke over covers off the same bowler and the colourful Saturday crowd erupted. He was soon done in by Kaneria's clever variation in pace and the leggie held the return catch.

The irony

Dravid, in one of those ironies of cricket, averages less than 20 in Tests on his home ground. He fatally attempted to sweep a delivery on the middle-and-leg stumps from Kaneria. Sachin Tendulkar swept the spinners impressively but played against the turn to a Shahid Afridi leg-break to be held at point. Afridi blotted his copybook later in the day by running down the pitch and attempting to engage Laxman in a verbal duel. Umpire Billy Bowden intervened on time.

Sami bowled with much passion on a pitch not conducive to pacemen. In his first spell of 9-1-29-1 from the pavilion end, he put in considerable effort to extract surprising bounce. He also angled one across the left-handed Gautam Gambhir's blade to have him taken in the slip cordon. By then, the opening pair had raised 98 valuable runs.

Patient Kaneria

The patient and strong-willed Kaneria, coming under punishment earlier on, did impress in his final spell of 7-2-19-2. This included the scalp of the left-handed Sourav Ganguly, who was foxed by a delivery leaving him to be stumped. Moments earlier, Ganguly had been reprieved at silly point by Younis. The captain, down on confidence, needs to find form fast.

Inzamam-ul-Haq underbowled Afridi, but otherwise led the side well, switching the ends of the bowlers, changing the fields, and not allowing the game to drift. He gave Arshad a lengthy spell in the morning from the BEML end from where Harbhajan had operated well on the second day, but the tall off-spinner lacked the variety and the flight to trouble the Indians. If the pitch, that is becoming increasingly dry under the hot sun, deteriorates, then he could become a factor. So far the wicket has held firm.

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