He likes to open but his position at the top of the order may be threatened by the success of the Dravid-Sachin combination.
Kuala Lumpur: Virender Sehwag likes to get into the action early. On Thursday, against West Indies, he was not allowed to do so.
Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings and put on 75 without too much fuss. It was a partnership that could end Sehwag’s reign at the top of the order.
Dravid and Tendulkar opened the innings in the aborted game against Sri Lanka earlier in August and have started off together at the top in only four games thus far. The Thursday’s partnership was their best.
Sehwag being pushed down the order has something to do with the team management’s policy of presenting players with new challenges. The Delhi batsman has not scored a century since April 2005 and it must have had a say in this move.
Sehwag has scored 3652 of his 4130 runs as an opener and all his seven one-day hundreds have come at that position. He came close to hitting tons in the West Indies making 97 and 95 in the one-day series — both as an opener.
Sehwag and Tendulkar have forged a successful opening pair for India and have been involved in nine century stands.
On Thursday, Sehwag came in at the fall of Irfan Pathan’s wicket in the 36th over of the innings. For someone who is used to smashing the new ball and taking full advantage of the field restrictions early on, Sehwag’s nine of just 10 balls was quick, but not convincing.
With Tendulkar now back to full fitness and in great touch, it would be only natural for India to revert to their most successful opening combination.
Since October 2005, seven different batsmen, including wicket-keeper MS Dhoni have occupied the opening slot.
With Yuvraj Singh set to come back into the middle-order and the likes of Suresh Raina and Dhoni lower-down to boost an innings, Sehwag’s ability to get India to a blazing start at the top must be utilised.
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