Sehwag, The Bowler & Colombo, his Favourite Venue

We all relate to Virender Sehwag as being a swashbuckling opening batsman for India.

Whether it is ODI or Test Cricket matches, he just likes to dominate the bowlers. It really doesn’t matter if he is on 199 or playing on a batsman unfriendly wicket, he can still be aggressive and give the bowler a tough time!

But owing to his cracking batting form, we often let his heroics with the ball go unnoticed; there are plenty of occasions when Sehwag’s spin bowling (off breaks), has won matches for India.

Apparently, Viru is the only player to have taken a five-wicket innings haul and scored two triple centuries in Test cricket.

Thus far, Sehwag has bagged 18 Man of the Match awards, and four of them have been awarded while playing in Colombo. In two of these matches, he has also contributed with the ball taking 3 wickets.

Overall, in his test career, he has taken 32 wickets with best bowling figures of 5/104.

In the current test match being played at the P Sara Stadium in Colombo, in Sri Lanka, he has taken the key wickets of Paranavitana and Dilshan, putting India firmly in charge of the match, at the end of the third day.

Such a dominant position in the match was unthinkable at the end of the first day’s play when Sri Lanka were 292/4, on a wicket said to be helpful to bowlers.

At the time, there was speculation as to how high the Sri Lankan score could go. With Samaraweera and Mathew both looking settled, at the crease, and the Indian bowling looking weak in Harbhajan’s absence, India were looking down the barrel.

Bowling wicket or not, no team is comfortable against India until Sehwag gets out. And if he gets out immediately after a hundred, they should consider themselves lucky.

Because, by then, the bowlers are so shell-shocked, they would just like to get the match over with.

By all accounts, Viv Richards had that kind of effect on bowlers but I am not certain Richards did it as often as Sehwag has done, and continues to do.

Getting back to Sehwag’s bowling, Sehwag has definitely taken a giant step towards helping India level the three-match series against Sri Lanka, with his wickets of openers, Dilshan and Paranwitana.

At end of third day’s play, in their second innings, Srilanka are at 45/2.  He can bat and he can bowl. The only thing Superman Sehwag cannot do is fly.

Or, can he? I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned that he could!

Tags: India, IPL, Sehwag, Srilanka

Category: Cricket