VIRENDER SEHWAG.. A boon to Indian Cricket

Virender Sehwag made his debut for Delhi Cricket team in the 1997/98 season.He was selected for the North Zone cricket team for Duleep Trophy the following 1998/99 season, ending 5th in the run scoring list. In the next Duleep Trophy, Sehwag scored a blasting 274 and ended 4th in the run scoring list.

Sehwag continued to play Domestic cricket even after his start of International Career. He had a short stint with Leicestershire.

International Career

Sehwag played his first ODI on 1st April 1999 vs Pakistan. He failed to perform in his first ODI and was next selected after 20 months.

Sehwag rose to prominence in his 4th ODI when he scored 58 off 54 against the strong Australia. In the same game, he took 3 wickets and helped India win the match. He was awarded the first Man of the Match.

He played his first Test on 3 Nov 2001 against South Africa. He scored his maiden century in the very first innings of his first Test match.

Sehwag scored 105 in his first Test. Here, celebrating his maiden Test century.

Playing Style

Sachin Tendulkar was Sehwag's inspiration. He often tried to copy Sachin and he has said that he tried to become the next Sachin Tendulkar. But, he later realised that he cannot become the next Sachin and it is better to be Virender Sehwag!

Sehwag is an aggressive batsman. And it is often seen that he tries to maintain his strike rate above 100.

Sehwag and Sachin.

One Day International

Sehwag first did opening in August 2001 in Sri Lanka because the regular opener Sachin was absent due to an injury. This was a tri-series which also involved New Zealand. In a match against NZ that was to decide the finalist, Sehwag scored his maiden century that came off just 69 deliveries. At that time, this was the third fastest century by an Indian. Till date, he has scored 15 ODI centuries, the last one in which is 219 which came against West Indies on 8 December 2011.

Achievements in ODI Cricket

=> Sehwag's 219 against WI was the highest ODI score till 13 November 2014.

=> Sehwag's 100 off 60 balls against WI was the fastest century by an Indian till Oct 2013, when Kohli surpassed his record by scoring 100 off 52.

Sehwag launched the first five of India's innings in 2011 WC by hitting four of the very first ball of the innings. A Unique record though.
=> Sehwag has a strike rate of 104.33, one of the best of ODI cricket.

Test Cricket

Virender Sehwag is the master of Test Cricket. He has very interesting, unique and amazing records in Test cricket.

He made his debut on 3 Nov 2001 against SA in which he made his maiden century. Till date, he has made 23 Test centuries which includes 6 double centuries(most by an Indian) and two Triple centuries(only Indian to do so).

The triple centuries.. 309 vs Pakistan: In the Test match against Pakistan which started on 28th April 2004 in Multan, Sehwag did the unpredictable. He became the first ever Indian cricketer to score a triple century. One amazing incident of this innings is when Sehwag was batting on 295. The bowler was Saqlain Mushtaq. Sehwag was thinking of hitting a six. But Sachin(who was batting on 120) ordered him not to do so. Sachin said "You will not hit a six or I will hit you on your bum." But Sehwag did not cared and he did the unbelievable. He smashed the ball for six to complete his triple century. He scored 309 with 6 sixes in the memorable innings. After that he was given the name 'Multan ka Sultan'.

Sehwag after hitting the six which took him from 295 to 301.

319 vs South Africa: It was the first test of the Test series against South Africa which started on 26th March 2008 at the  M Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. In this match on 28th March, Sehwag scored his second triple century. Against the most powerful bowling attack of the world, Sehwag did the unimaginable. He not only scored a 300, but he scored a 300 off just 278 balls, the fastest triple century. He got out on 319 giving an easy catch to Neil Mckenzie to slips. It was very unfortunate because he had a chance of scoring a 400. His innings included 42 fours and 5 sixes.

Virender Sehwag celebrates after scoring his secong triple century.

These were two of the best innings of Sehwag's Test career. He again had a chance to score his third triple century. Against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009, Sehwag scored 293. It was very unfortunate. He gave a catch to the bowler Muralitharan.

Apart from this, he has played many more wonderful innings. And, many still believe that Virender Sehwag can make another triple century.

Achievements in Test Cricket

=> Fastest 250 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced (207).

=> Fastest 300 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced (278).
=> Most Test runs in a single day by an Indian. Sehwag made 257 in a day against SA in Chennai. He surpassed this in making 284 in a day against Sri Lanka. The latter was the second consecutive innings in which India scored more than 400 runs in a single day in Tests. Sehwag also made a century at faster than a run a ball on the previous occasion.
=> Only Indian batsman to have scored two triple centuries in Test cricket. He is one of the four batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two triple centuries, alongside Australia's Sir Donald Bradman, and the West Indies' Brian Lara and Chris Gayle.
=> Six double centuries – the first three of which came against Pakistan. Greg Chappell and Thilan Samaraweera are the other players to have scored multiple double centuries against Pakistan (2). Sehwag and Tendulkar are the only Indians to have made six Test double centuries.
=> Consecutive 150+ scores in Test cricket: He holds the record for consecutive test hundreds converted to scores of 150+, at 11.

International Centuries of VIRENDER SEHWAG

One Day International Centuries

No.	Score	Against	Pos.	Inn.	S/R	Venue	H/A/N	Date	Result
1	100	New Zealand	2	2	142.85	Sinhalese Sports Club,Colombo	Neutral	2 August 2001	Won
2	126	England	1	2	121.15	R. Premadasa Stadium,Colombo	Neutral	22 September 2002	Won
3	114*	West Indies	2	2	139.02	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot	Home	12 November 2002	Won
4	108	New Zealand	2	2	90.75	McLean Park, Napier	Away	29 December 2002	Lost
5	112	New Zealand	2	2	80.57	Eden Park, Auckland	Away	11 January 2003	Won
6	130	New Zealand	1	1	97.01	Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium,Hyderabad	Home	15 November 2003	Won
7	108	Pakistan	1	1	113.68	Nehru Stadium, Kochi	Home	2 April 2005	Won
8	114	Bermuda	3	1	131.03	Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain	Neutral	19 March 2007	Won
9	119	Pakistan	2	2	125.26	National Stadium, Karachi	Away	26 June 2008	Won
10	116	Sri Lanka	1	1	128.80	R. Premadasa Stadium,Colombo	Away	3 February 2009	Won
11	125*	New Zealand	2	2	168.91	Seddon Park, Hamilton	Away	11 March 2009	Won
12	146	Sri Lanka	1	1	143.13	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot	Home	15 December 2009	Won
13	110	New Zealand	1	1	118.2	Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla	Neutral	25 August 2010	Won
14	175	Bangladesh	1	1	125	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium,Dhaka	Away	19 February 2011	Won
15	219	West Indies	2	1	146.97	Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore	Home	8 December 2011	Won

Test Centuries

No.	Score	Against	Pos.	Inn.	Test	Venue	H/A	Date	Result
1	105	South Africa	6	1	1/2	Springbok Park, Bloemfontein	Away	3 November 2001	Lost
2	106	England	2	1	2/4	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	Away	8 August 2002	Draw
3	147	West Indies	2	1	1/3	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	Home	9 October 2002	Won
4	130	New Zealand	2	2	2/2	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali	Home	18 October 2003	Draw
5	195	Australia	2	1	3/4	Melbourne Cricket Ground,Melbourne	Away	26 December 2003	Lost
6	309	Pakistan	2	1	1/3	Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan	Away	28 March 2004	Won
7	155	Australia	2	2	2/4	MA Chidambaram Stadium,Chennai	Home	15 October 2004	Draw
8	164	South Africa	1	2	1/2	Green Park, Kanpur	Home	23 November 2004	Draw
9	173	Pakistan	2	2	1/3	Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali	Home	10 March 2005	Draw
10	201	Pakistan	2	2	3/3	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium,Bangalore	Home	26 March 2005	Lost
11	254	Pakistan	1	2	1/3	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	Away	16 January 2006	Draw
12	180	West Indies	2	1	2/4	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet	Away	10 June 2006	Draw
13	151	Australia	1	3	4/4	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	Away	28 January 2008	Draw
14	319	South Africa	2	2	1/3	MA Chidambaram Stadium,Chennai	Home	28 March 2008	Draw
15	201*	Sri Lanka	2	1	2/3	Galle International Stadium, Galle	Away	31 July 2008	Won
16	131	Sri Lanka	2	1	2/3	Green Park, Kanpur	Home	24 November 2009	Won
17	293	Sri Lanka	2	1	3/3	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai	Home	3 December 2009	Won
18	109	South Africa	2	1	1/2	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur	Home	8 February 2010	Lost
19	165	South Africa	2	1	2/2	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	Home	15 February 2010	Won
20	109	Sri Lanka	2	2	1/3	Galle International Stadium, Galle	Away	20 July 2010	Lost
21	109	Sri Lanka	2	2	3/3	Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo	Away	5 August 2010	Won
22	173	New Zealand	2	1	1/3	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera,Ahmedabad	Home	4 November 2010	Draw
23	117	England	2	1	1/4	Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera,Ahmedabad	Home	15 November 2012	Won

T20 International

Sehwag made his T20I debut on 1 December 2006, which was also the first T20I match for India. In this match he scored 34 runs off 29 balls. Sehwag has played a total of 19 T20I matches and scored 394 runs with a massive strike rate of 145.38. His highest score is 68.

REALLY.. Virender Sehwag is a boon to the Indian Cricket.