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Sehwag: Bowlers' horror, fans' delight
Virender Sehwag's fans have begun to believe in the unbelievable.
If there is a batsman in the current Indian cricket team who can walk on water, it's Virender Sehwag.
The 26-year-old aggressive opener has been defying logic of late with such charming regularity that his fans have begun to believe in the unbelievable.
When he edges the ball, it races to the boundary. When he miscues it, he still gets runs. And when he middles it, fielders are left stranded as if the ball has been driven with some supernatural force.
Sehwag has recently been batting in what in tennis parlance is known as the 'zone', where nothing can go wrong for a player.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell summed it up nicely when he said Sehwag could change the course of a match with the ease of "Moses parting the Red Sea".
Who knows it better than Pakistan, who can be forgiven for believing that Sehwag wields a magic wand rather than a bat.
It all began at Multan last year when Sehwag became the first Indian to smash a triple-century in the opening Test against Pakistan.
Sehwag meted out the same treatment to Pakistan in the ongoing home series, scoring 173 in the first Test at Mohali and 201 in the third at Bangalore to aggregate 544 runs in three matches at an average of 90.66.
There was no end to Pakistan's nightmare as Sehwag hammered a blistering 95-ball 108 in the opening one-dayer at Kochi and followed it up with an explosive 40-ball 74 in the second at Visakhapatnam.
"I'm in the kind of form that does not come often. It's probably the form of my life," said Sehwag, who has so far scored 3,079 runs in 34 Tests at 55.98.
Sehwag has redefined the role of an opener because he cocks a snook at the coaching manuals. His foot-work and shot selection may not be flawless, but his judgement of line and length is impeccable.
