Test Match Betting: Sehwag's turn

Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 07 December 2009 / 1 Comments

Virender Sehwag, the award-winning batsman

"A cricket purist might wince at Sehwag’s lack of footwork. Indeed, when he was Indian coach, Greg Chappell tried to get him to change his methods, to abandon his aggressive approach. It didn’t work."

For a long time, Virender Sehwag has lived in the shadow of his idol, Sachin Tendulkar. But over the last eighteen months, he has become India's most effective and dangerous batsman. Andrew Hughes tells us more

Virender Sehwag was 14 when he first saw Sachin Tendulkar bat. It was during the World Cup of 1992 and the Little Master was only 19 himself at the time. After skipping seventh grade exams to watch his new hero, Viru spent hours trying to mimic Tendulkar's technique. You can still see traces of that youthful emulation in the way he plays some shots, such as the punch off the back foot. The fact that he is of a similar size and stature to his idol, adds to the 'Little Tendulkar' effect.

But though for most of his career Sehwag has been looking up to Tendulkar or being compared, usually unfavourably, with his idol, in recent times, he has lifted his reputation from that of a flashy, flawed talent to being seriously considered as one of Tendulkar's equals. Over the last eighteen months, Sachin has sparkled from time to time, but it is Sehwag who has weighed in with the big runs; his double hundred against Sri Lanka last week helping to propel India to the top of the Test tree.

He has thrived under the regime of Gary Kirsten, as he did under John Wright, his first international coach. Both coaches recognised his special talent and didn't try to tamper with his essence. A cricket purist might wince at Sehwag's lack of footwork. Indeed, when he was Indian coach, Greg Chappell tried to get him to change his methods, to abandon his aggressive approach. It didn't work.

Rather like Herschelle Gibbs, Sehwag is one of those batsmen who needs an uncluttered game plan, a free hand, with perhaps just a technical tweak here and there. In full flow, he is, like all the best attacking batsmen, impossible to bowl at. He pays little attention to where the fielders are and often, little attention to the state of the match, though age has tempered his recklessness.

But his stats show that he has moved far ahead of the likes of Gibbs and the other great swashbuckling opener of recent times, Matthew Hayden. Two triple centuries and four double centuries, combined with an average of 52.5 puts him on a par with some of the greatest batsmen who have ever played the game and puts the lie to the idea that he is a slogger with good hand-eye co-ordination.

The secret to his batting is his balance. That absolute stillness of head and body while the bowler is running in is the most important thing that he learned from watching and copying Tendulkar. Allied to an audaciousness that the Little Master never quite demonstrated, except perhaps in his very early career, this perfect balance makes Sehwag one of the most formidable batsmen India has ever produced.

But is he as good as Tendulkar? Will he be remembered as Sachin's equal or his inferior? It is perhaps unwise to be too definitive. Sehwag is, after all, only 31. Despite the best efforts of the BCCI to remove the five-day game from India's agenda, he still has many years of Test cricket to come. Had he started at 16, like Tendulkar, he might himself be threatening that astonishing 12,000 run record. And his batting average compares well to Tendulkar, trailing by just a couple of runs.

However, when you did below the surface, you see a bigger difference. Tendulkar averages significantly higher than Sehwag in every country outside Asia. Specifically, his record in Australia is far more impressive and though he averages slightly less in the Caribbean, it must be remembered that Tendulkar faced the West Indies at their fiercest. Sehwag is good. Tendulkar, as we probably already knew, is just that little bit better.

Somewhat surprisingly, Sehwag has a comparatively poor average in T20 internationals. Nevertheless, he is a key figure in that format of the game. The forthcoming T20 games between India and Sri Lanka are fascinating and offer the tourists an early chance to avenge their Test series defeat. The World Twenty-20 runners up are a tough proposition in the shorter game but are surprisingly [2.32] outsiders to win the first match on Wednesday, with India on [1.72]

Comments (1)

1. Ramana | 16 December 2009

   His shots & techniques! Who wrote the cricket book and how to play each and every shot? Can I ask how to hit a six over extra cover when its bowled just short of length inches outside off stump by a fast bowler? Watch Sehwag and add it to the text book! I am sure atleast Dilshan watched Sehwag and play that shots very often for four if not for six yet! Haven't seen anyone hitting that cleanly. How to attack a spin bowling all over the park regardless of the field settings, watch Sehwag's several ways). Modern cricket has changed. The term slogger has been changed to "sophisticated sloggers" by some people already. There are far many new creative shots(cut over third man, above first slip, scoop over fine leg, etc, etc) in the play now a days and a few new kind of deliveries by bowlers too(doosra, caram ball,googly by spin bowlers, slower bouncers, back of the hand deliveries, etc are several variations used very often now a days).
   And, there are a few modern cricketers wouldn't keep just quiet against a terrific fast pace bowling out of the offstick for long. They will attempt shots. I remember one innings where Shoib Aktar was shaking Ponting's stay at the crease with his excellent pace where as the Gilchrist scooped his bouncers above the slip and scored runs. There is no doubt that the golder period of fast bowling is gone sometime ago. However, its ridiculous to always compare to the old fast bowling period and keep ourself in the "old age" thinking. If the batsmen emerge, bowlers have to emerge. As a country, when u play away, u got to have the bowlers, who would be able to bowl out even on the opposition's home pitch!
   Even then I would admire Wasim Akram and Wakar Younis more as they attached the 3 sticks more than bouncers using their skill to swing /york and deceive the batsmen! When u have three stumps there just for bowling at it, bowling bouncers all the time is not admired by me for sure unless there is some variety. For ex, I liked Lee and Aktar because they have the variety of express bouncers/yorkers to swing bowling/slow bouncer/yorkers!

   OK, coming back to Sehwag, when players mature, there average goes up and strike rate dips to all time low. Sehwag has improved both over the recent years!