If the Motera stadium at Ahmedabad is the place where Indian players have achieved world landmark, the Chidambaram stadium in Chennai seems to be the place where India’s best batting is on display. Going back to 1955 when the late Vinoo Mankad and the late Pankaj Roy shared what was till last month the world record opening partnership till this game where Virender Sehwag became only the third batsman and first Indian to score a triple hundred in a Test match. In between there have been some truly memorable batting deeds. Who can forget Vishy’s 97 not out against a rampaging Andy Roberts in 1974-75 on a pitch where there was appreciable bounce. Just to show how much he enjoyed rescuing India out of tight situation, Vishy got a century against the same opponents, the West Indians, four years later, on what I consider as the bounciest pitch that I have ever played on. He then scored a double hundred against the Englishmen in 1981-82. There was then Sachin Tendulkar’s inventive century against the Australians in 1997. The little champion brought out the slog sweep shot which had not been seen earlier from him to tackle the prodigious turn that Shane Warne was getting from round the wicket. Tendulkar then played an epic innings against the old rivals Pakistan despite being in enormous pain through a back injury.
Now Virender Sehwag has added his name to the list with an innings of such audacity that brought the knowledgeable but normally sedate Chennai crowd to their feet. To go into bat when the opposition has put a 500 plus total on the board and kept you on the field for better part of two days, is a daunting task. The physical tiredness to go in to bat after bat can make the batsman lose his concentration and get out. If anything, Sehwag seemed to thrive in that condition. He batted as if to make up for the Test matches he missed over the last 12 months. When Sourav Ganguly was left out of the side and came back with great determination, there was a section that gave credit to the coach for that comeback. It will be interesting to see how many people applaud the selectors who dropped Sehwag last year and then selected him to Australia despite him not being in the original list of probables. One can write reams about his range of shots but more than anything else what needs to be really admired is his temperament. India still had a mountain to climb when he got to his hundred and were still not out of danger when he got to his double century. So he kept going on in the incredibly energy sapping heat of Chennai to see that his team not only gets close to the South African total but is also in a position to overhaul it. In the context of this series this is an important psychological blow for if the South Africans were to have dismissed India cheaply, then it would been hard for India to comeback in the series. Now thanks to Viru’s innings, India are in a position to control the game and also the series.
This aspect of his batting for the team has not always been appreciated but if one looks at his previous Test century at Adelaide, then one will realise how with experience Viru has tempered his approach to suit the needs of his side. Even as one respect and understand the value of his batting the jaw still drops at the audacity of some of his shots. Not for him any lingering and loitering in the 90s and within a few deliveries he got to his hundred, double hundred and triple hundred.
Motera stadium may yet see another world landmark next if the little champion gets the runs needed to go past Brian Lara’s aggregate in Test cricket. But before that, will the Chidambaram stadium see the bettering of the West Indian left-handers’s mark of the highest individual score in Test cricket?
