In the year 2002, Virender Sehwag was opening in both Tests and ODIs for India, something that had not been tried in sometime. But he was adapting well to the red ball game as he showed there was a different way to keep the bowlers at bay, hit them out of the attack.
On the opening day of the first Test vs West Indies, Sehwag demonstrated just that in Mumbai. With Sanjay Bangar holding fort at one end, Sehwag just went ballistic at the other. The duo put on 201 runs for the opening wicket which helped India make 457. We wrapped up the game in 4 days and won by an innings and 112 runs. But all that is for another day, the focus is on Sehwag.
In typical Sehwag fashion, he was unleashing carnage on the visitors. Carl Hooper pretty much ran out of options as nobody could make a dent. In fact at one point he must have wondered why he needed to set a field at all.?
When Sehwag fell the team score was 213, out of which he had made 147. His innings lasted 206 balls and contained 24 fours along with 3 sixes. This was still the early phase of his career, but the signs of the future were already evident. The chain of events that made him the most dangerous batsman in the first decade of this century were already set in motion.?
In the coming years he would score 2 triple hundreds and almost a 3rd, he would also help us win the World T20 and World Cup. But all that was in the future. On that day in Mumbai he just showed what a precious talent he was. His then skipper Sourav Ganguly always backed him and he repaid the captain's faith with a masterclass century. ??