Was virendra Sehwag an all-time great batsmen?
by Harsh Thakor
In his peak 'Viru' was one of the greatest batsmen the world of cricket has seen.He may have lacked adequate footwork or sound technique but his eyes and reflexes were razor sharp.Sehwag's hand eye co-ordination was like a programmed machine.In full flow he posessed the control of a driver steering racing car at full speed and intimidated the opposition like a military bomber raiding an airbase.He would bissect every part of the most impregnable of field settings like a butcher cutting meat with the finest finesse.One got the sensation of thunder and lightning setting in and he would start an innings like an airplane taking off a runway.
What was amazing about Sehwag was that unlike Viv Richards or Brian Lara he hardly moved his feet.Even stalwarts like David Gower and Inazmam Ul Haq had sound footwork.I find it difficult to explain how he tore the bowling attacks to shreds with hardly any foot movement.His drive square on the offside is executed to a ball even 10 inches away with a touch of genius that no batsmen ever posessed.
He may not have had Sachin Tendulkar's consistency and mastery or Azharuddin's elegance but as pure match-winner he surpassed every Indian batsman.He had a penchant for mammoth scores that no Indian batsmen ever had almost registering 3 triple hundreds.Above all he was prolific against South Africa and Australia ,the 2 best teams of the day.He mastered the Pakistani attack averaging 91.5,including making a record series aggregate of 544 in 2005 in India and scoring 309 at Multan.His 309 ranks amongst the finest test innings and amongst the best 2-3 ever in the 300 club as he won the game for India with strokeplay of unmatched brilliance.He made the then fastest triple century ever scored in terms of balls in record 336 run partnership with Tendulkar.He tore the bowling with the contempt of a swordsman piercing flesh.He also scored a mastery 155 at Chennai in most difficult condition sin 2004 against Australia and later a masterly 164 against South Africa at Kanpur.Later he amassed 319 versus South Africa ,scoring the quickest triple hundred ever.Sehwag had the highest strike rate any opening or test batsmen ever had.
Sehwag's career often had fluctuation of fortunes and his average dropped to below 50 about 3 times.However he would always make a houdini style comeback and made his big scores when India needed them most.His centuries won India important win sin Australia at Perth in 2007-08 and in South Africa in the 2nd test in 2010-11.Against England at Calcutta Sehwag played one of the greatest innings in a 4th innings run chase when scoring 83 .India looked doomed when chasing a 370 run target but Sehwag's spectacular assault set the launching pad for India to achieve a famous victory.Whether driving ,cutting ,pulling or hooking Sehwag exhibited the authority of an emperor in control.
No opening batsmen in the history of the game has dominated the opposition to the extent of Virendra Sehwag.Len Hutton,Jack Hobbs or Sunil Gavaskar were all time greats but never devoured bolwing like 'Viru.'To me at his peak he ranked with the best batsmen of all time.True ,the wickets may be placid in the modern era but even great batsmen like Ponting,Tendulkar or Lara did not pulverize bowling with the same authority as Veeru.True his marathon scores were compiled in the sub-continent but he also faced top class bowling.
Sadly Veeru retired when his average fell below 50 and has never got the opportunity to stage a ressurection.When crossing the 8,000 run mark he averaged around 53 runs which was remarkable.At one stage he had the best average in a ist inings by any post war batsmen.However more than his best statistics it is the manner he got his runs and the impact it had on the team.I have no doubt that in any era Sehwag at his best.would have been a great match-winner.I would have backed him to turn games on bad wickets of any era.Bar Barry Richards no opening batsmen was ever as talented.Infact Viru with Hobbs ,Hutton,Gavaskar or Barry Richards would be the perfect opening partner.Viru lacked the aesthetics of Greg Chappell , the mastery of Sunil Gavaskar or the fluidity of Viv Richards but his batting posessed a unique charm of it's own.In his own right he was a pioneer to a new style of batting.What gives him a place amongst the all-time great batsman was his ability to pulverize the best of opposition not surpassed by Walter Hammond,Gary Sobers,Viv Richards or Brian Lara.He had a style of domination not posessed even by batting greats like Bradman,Hammond,Weekes ,Sobers or Viv Richards.Unlike Inzamam Ul Haq he was successful against the strongest teams of the day,South Africa and Australia.He scored 3 centuries on Australian soil itself including a 195 at Melbourne and a 151 at Adelaide.He averaged over 46 in Australia and over 50 against South Africa.At his best he overshadowed Sachin Tendulkar's contribution in India's big wins.Thus I would conclude by awarding the tag of 'great' to Virendra Sehwag rather than very good which I would award to 'V.V.S.Laxman,Mohammad Azharrudin,Salim Malik or even Zaheer Abbas,David Gower or Inzamam Ul Haq.He would finish a shade below Alan Border,Rahul Dravid ,Javed Miandad and Ricky Ponting.Amongst openers I place him only behind Hobbs,Barry Richards,Hutton and Gavaskar.Sehwag may just not posess that Muhammad Ali type temperament like Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara to stage a comeback.It was that very temperament that set apart those batting giants which sadly Viru lacked.
