Viru savages Lankan attack, on threshold of third triple

The crescendo was at different decibels. It kept peaking after every delivery. Each second, in fact. If the rambunctious crowd at the Brabourne Stadium could not be controlled, Virender Sehwag was the culprit. He could have easily been held guilty for the rising levels of noise pollution around the Arabian Sea in South Bombay on Thursday evening.

There is no evidence of the Delhi dasher being a descendant of Genghis Khan but the Sri Lankan bowlers could be forgiven for believing so. With his greed for runs and the ruthless manner in which he got them, Sehwag could have gone one up on the Mongolian invader. It was batting replete with savagery and splendour — a salivating treat.

In fact, Sehwag’s batting on Day Two of the third Test was like a dream - one never knew when it will end. But the dream continued, giving nightmares to the Sri Lankan bowlers. It has helped India race to a sizeable lead of 50 runs at stumps with nine wickets in hand. After 75 years of Test cricket, India have raised the bar, scoring 400 to 443 precisely — in less than a day for the second consecutive Test match. Courtesy Sehwag.

On both occasions. For Viru, nothing really seemed to have interested him on Thursday than hitting boundaries. He scored runs at break-neck speed. Michael Schumacher could have got a lesson on speed and strike rate. Before the celebration over his half-century was over, he had reached 100 and was on 150 before the din had subsided. And the double century? Bingo! He was there before even one started preparing for it. In the anticipation of 300, another 250 went unnoticed. He stayed unbeaten on 284 which came off 239 balls with 40 fours and seven sixes. Sanity? What’s that? Mayhem? Right word.

But Sehwag’s every milestone was a moment of wonder and breathtaking audacity. There were unmistakable elegance, unbridled power and enduring energy in his batting. Shots come out of his willow in torrents - the best being the next one, invariably. For Sri Lanka, it was a working definition of mayhem. They were babes lost in the woods. Sehwag was raining fours and sixes as burgers in a fast food joint. If the shots did not fetch boundaries, misfields did. Leather hunt? Sehwag gave it a new definition.

Also pushed to the background were Sehwag’s own teammates — Murali Vijay (87) and Rahul Dravid (62 batting). Both were involved in partnerships worth over 200 with Sehwag but little was remembered of them. Vijay, in particular, showed a lot of character to help India get off to a great start after Sri Lanka’s innings ended 26 minutes into the day at 393. The Tamil Nadu batsman played some delectable shots and tried to match Sehwag stroke for stroke. But it was a day when Sehwag was unmatchable.

One ran out of adjectives and superlatives as Sehwag showed perfect psychological balance and control to pace his innings. As a cricket romantic would have said, he proved a point to the world in one innings of mellifluent lyricism that Test cricket can be played this way too. Mr Cardus, did you watch it from up there?

‘Didn’t want to miss out on a big one’

After his marathon unbeaten 284-run effort, Virender Sehwag said he wanted to make up for the disappointment in Kanpur. “I missed out on a big knock in the last Test. I didn’t want to miss out this time,” the India opener said after the end of day’s play. Sehwag had scored 131 in the first innings of Kanpur Test. The India opener said his strategy was to hit only the bad balls. “I just wanted to hit the bad balls. I was watching the ball really well. I just wanted to see the ball and hit the ball.” Sehwag said the Brabourne Stadium is a decent wicket for the batsmen. “It’s a good track to bat on. The first day of the pitch was damp and so it was spinning and seaming but it has gone now. On Day 4 and 5 it will turn again.”