There was something sadistic about Virender Sehwag's innings at Motera. It didn't have any of those trademark slogs or vicious lunges towards the fence, the strokes were more classical, dripping with carpet-hugging finesse. Yet, he scored an almost run-a-ball 173, never once tugging at his leash or straining to up the ante; it happened automatically. On Thursday, Sehwag was on auto-pilot. For a very long time, it looked like the batsman was scoring runs for fun. No field or strategy could've possibly gotten him out. Just ask New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori. From the first concentric ring around Sehwag — who stood in the centre of the cricketing universe — Vettori and 10 other Kiwis watched the bludgeoner put his mental range on display.
"Bats are also used to play defensive strokes," Sehwag said later. With dropped jaws and spiraling eyes, the Black Caps tried everything within the rules to get him out, as Sehwag quelled wave after wave of their strategies with a dead bat. And when the opposition got the false impression of tying him down, he would score hordes of boundaries, not with a powerful crack, but gently with supple wrists.
It took him four balls to get off the mark, and 45 balls later, he notched up a half century. If his conversion rate of fifties to three figures is outstanding — almost 50 per cent — then the transformation of hundreds to big 150+ is unprecedented.
Out of the 21 centuries that Sehwag had scored before Thursday, 13 of them had surpassed the 150 mark, while six had cluttered the double hundred list. Against the hapless Kiwis, he made it 14 out of 22. He could have had his seventh 200 but a niggle put an end to those hopes. Somewhere deep beneath those furrowed brows, Vettori knew that only an injury could end Sehwag's run on Thursday, and that's exactly what happened.
"I was batting really well but then I injured my right knee when I slipped while taking a quick single. It started to hurt after tea and I stopped concentrating on my batting, the focus was on the pain," he said, after limping back to the pavilion with runner and Delhi-mate Gautam Gambhir for support. When a stunned New Zealand journalist enquired why he played the waiting game, Sehwag said casually: "I knew if I stay and the crease for half hour initially, I will make a big century." Maybe he was feeding off his partner, Rahul Dravid, with whom he stitched a 237-run stand for the second wicket.
With two of the most contrasting styles in cricket at a distance of 22 yards, the Kiwis were clearly confused. If Sehwag blocked, Dravid blocked some more. The wickets had dried up for Vettori & Co, and so had the ideas. "Batting with Rahul is great fun because we can't advise each other on anything. All we can say to each other is to watch the ball. There is no 'do this, do that' because our games are completely different," he added.
However, Vettori and the NZ team management will take solace and at least a couple of positives from Terrible Thursday. For one, Sehwag is out and hence the pace of the game is bound to fall. Two: it happens to everyone, as Sehwag has shown captains around the world 21 times before that there's pretty much nothing they could've done but stand by and watch.
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