Boy....I am bitten by the Sehwag bug now, after readin hesh's blog. One of my cousins is an avid Indian critic. He is the so called Nakkeran of our family that he finds faults in everything India does!!! He just said one word way back in 2003 after watching Sehwag bat against NZ in a one dayer during the horror series there- Audacious!!!
Audacious?
Googled the word and this is what i got..
extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless
Well, in due course Sehwag would be added to the meaning!!
Some of Sehwag's audacious strokes...
1. 195 Melbourne 2003
To me, no innings Sehwag has played or will play beats this innings. Purely, because it was against a very good attack on a ground in which India had a poor record on the first day of a test match. Two strokes stand out in my memory...
1. Steve Waugh bowling the last over before tea, tempts Sehwag with a slower one, of the last ball- the ball lands in the stands over the watching long off's head 3 seconds later!!!
2. Dravid is gone, Tendulkar out first ball, Ganguly in a spot of bother the other end and Sehwag is off the strike for 3 to 4 overs. Waugh brings back Macgill, and with a deep mid wicket, long on and square leg, bowls a perfect leg spinner first ball pitching around middle and off, a nice flighted leg spinner....only to see it disappear into the orbit over the deep midwicket!!!
18 at Chennai 2004
I was privileged to watch his 155 in Chennai, which was an absolute master piece, but to me the shot of the match was this...Mcgrath bowling the last over of the 4th day...220 to chase...a typically perfect Mcgrath delivery drilled straight down the ground for four....and after hitting it just turned around and started walking towards the pavilion!!! It was a pity the 5th day washed out...or else the final frontier would have still been there!!!!
Champions Trophy 2002 2nd final vs Srilanka
It has started raining again, the second time, Pulasthi Gunaratne just saw his career end in the first final with Sehwag hitting 17 of his over, this time around Srilanka go with an extra spinner, but with 223 on board and rains coming down, Vaas comes in for what would be the last delivery of the final...hardly around the 125k mark...outside the off stump with a deep point and a squarish third man...and with a persistent drizzle, even if there had been a man standing with a gun nearby to Sehwag's head he wouldnt have stopped from upper cutting that ball over third man for six! Vaas's reaction after that was comical...---rain is disadvantage to batsman, but here he runs to the umpire saying the ball is slippery!!!!
Thats it as of now...will add more if time permits...
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How could you miss that cover drive off Makahaya Ntini bowling from around the wicket on the last ball before tea at Chepauk.....He plays that shot and heads straight back to the dressing room without even bothering to look at the ball for a microsecond....that was like slapping Ntini for even turning upto bowl...as audacious as it gets...Maybe if time permits I'll come out my list of audacious Sehwag shots too
ReplyDeletei have a ghajinine memory when it comes to cricket no matter how hard i try to remember..so to add to the list of shots which only viru could play with effortless ease...THE THREE MIGHTY SIXES OVER COVER/EXTRA COVER in the recent T20..sunny in his commentary was just stating the obvious...no one has ever and will ever bat like this man...he is special..
ReplyDeleteand guys...keep the good show going...what quality blogging...i am humbled by the intellect that comes across`in the writing and the passion with which you people watch the sport...hitherto my approach to the game was cavalier at best and worst...reading hesh's and ramkis posts inspires me to follow the game with a keener eye...every little technical nuance...Iam humbled..u guys are setting such standards that a rookie like me can never ever think of posting stuff...the best I can do is read and continue to get inspired..but occassionally when hesh errs on facts I come up with my rebuttal...
ReplyDeleteor what u presume as errors!
ReplyDeleteI think I can also speak for Mahesh in this case, when you say that we follow the game with a keener nuance, I respectfully disagree. We were and still are ordinary guys who just watch cricket for the fun and joy it gives to us, and we worship Tendulkar....Thats what makes us to follow his game so closely and in doing so it just flowed into Dravid, Sehwag et al. Ask us to write about any England player for that matter and we would be at a loss of words!!!!
ReplyDeleteEngland player is probably a wrong example here, coz if we were to follow all cricketers with the same passion that we do of Sachin, we still wouldn't have much to write about them! KP is an exception...He's not English man thats why!
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with the essence of the comment...