[Desi Masala] Is Sehwag now the world's best batsman?

*Is Sehwag now the world's best batsman?*
http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4257737.cms
13 Mar 2009, 0000 hrs IST, Avijit Ghosh, TNN

NEW DELHI: The write-ups that follow any substantial knock by Virender
Sehwag are usually flooded with adjectives such as "explosive",
"destructive" Virender Sehwag practices in the nets during team's practice
session in New Zealand. (Reuters Photo)
and "bludgeoning".

But such praise hides an obvious truth that the cricket world finds
difficult to acknowledge - that the Nawab of Najafgarh is a genius and,
perhaps, the best batsman in the world today.
When Sehwag's at the crease, anything is possible. Like smashing the first
three balls he faced on this tour for a six. When he hits the fastest ever
ODI century by an Indian, it is almost expected.

But a much larger pool of facts illustrates why he's the most feared batsman
today. Sehwag is the only batsman in current international cricket with two
Test triple tons.
Both were scored at breathtaking speed against respectable attacks:
Pakistan and South Africa. He is a more prolific "big" innings player than
anybody else in world cricket. His last 11 hundreds have been 150-plus: 201
not out, 319, 151, 180, 254, 201, 173, 164, 155, 309, 195.

Not one of these was against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. Barring one, each had a
strike rate of 70-plus, amazing by Test standards.

The 319 against South Africa in Chennai last year had come off just 304
balls. In terms of strike rate, not even Sir Donald Bradman compares.

What really makes Sehwag special isn't his strike rate or his shot-making
skills. It is the fact that he's succeeded on his own terms.

Rather than blindly follow the coaching manual, he has only taken what
suited him and in the process created a grammar his own: head still, feet
still but eyes lighting quick.

Add to that immaculate hand-body coordination and loads of self-belief.
Whatever the situation, he has never altered this basic style.
In his autobiography All-Round View, former Pakistan captain Imran Khan
said that a batsman must succeed on all kinds of surfaces to be classified
as a genuine great.

But the reason why he put Vivian Richards ahead of every other batsman in
his generation was because he could dominate the bowling more than others.

But in this generation, it seems that mantle now belongs to Virender Sehwag.
Sehwag too is a dominator. In bowlers, he induces fear. No other batsman has
reduced world-class bowlers to helplessness as consistently in all forms of
the game - Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s - as the Delhi opener.

Only the finest can achieve a strike rate of 100-plus in ODIs after playing
over 200 games - to be precise, 101.66 in 204 games.

His overall ODI average of 34 may be modest by his own standards, but in the
last 20 innings, he has averaged an astounding 60.58.
And he has succeeded on every surface - in South Africa, Australia, West
Indies, Sri Lanka.

His debut ton came on a seaming pitch in Bloemfontein against the fearsome
pace attack of Shaun Pollock, Nantie Hayward, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener
and Makhaya Ntini.

In Sri Lanka last year, when the Fab Four fumbled against mystery slowman
Ajantha Mendis, he led the way. Earlier, during the disastrous 2002-03
series against New Zealand, he was the only Indian batsmen to get two
match-winning ODI hundreds on violently seaming tracks.

Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Sachin collectively scored 215 runs at an
average of 10.75. None of them scored a single knock above 25.

Tendulkar managed only two runs in three innings at an average of less than
1. Sehwag scored 299 runs at 42.71 out of the team's 916, almost a third of
the team's tally.

In a land where an overwhelming majority of cricket coaches, commentators,
even historians, display an obsession with grammar and purity, it is not
hard to understand why Sehwag hasn't yet been feted and fawned upon the way
a master ought to be.

It is only when those who create the ideology of batsmanship - what
constitutes greatness and what doesn't - see him as the creator of a new
paradigm, rather than a rule-breaker, will they be able to truly appreciate
his greatness.
The loss, until then, is only their's, not Sehwag's.

*The Dominator *
* Matchwinner in all forms of game - Test, ODI, Twenty20
* Scores at breathtaking speed. ODI strike rate of 101; Test: 78; Twenty20:
144
* Most prolific big innings player. Last 11 centuries all 150-plus knocks
* Only current cricketer to score two Test triple centuries (against SA and
Pak). Also scored fastest triple ton ever
* Induces fear in every bowler. No stats but see it written on their faces

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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