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NEWS India-West Indies ODI Series 2007>Why Virender Sehwag is important for India 10th Jan 2007 23.37 IST By Manish Kumar There may have been more than one call to axe Virender Shewag from the Indian team, but the belligerent batsman is a vital cog in the Indian wheel of success and fortune. There was a time not long ago in international cricket that bowlers around the world would worry about how to stop the Sehwag juggernaut.
Sehwag scored a scintillating 254 in a near world-record opening wicket stand with captain Rahul Dravid in the Lahore Test against Pakistan in January last year. But from then on, Sehwag’s scores have been on the decline in both forms of cricket inspite of the fact that he has the reputation of one of the most feared and most destructive batsmen in international cricket. But statistics prove that whenever Sehwag has fired, India have won the match, simply because he is a match-winner in both forms of the game. In his fourth ODI against Australia in Bangalore in early 2001, Sehwag made his first half-century, 58 off 54 balls, and he also took three wickets as India won the match, earning him the man of the match award. In mid 2001, Sehwag was promoted to the opening slot for the Tri-series against Sri Lanka. He scored his maiden century in this series, 100 off 69 balls against New Zealand in Sri Lanka. This was his first score beyond 50 in ten matches, and earned him the man-of the match award. Sehwag’s second man of the match award came later in 2001, scoring 82 from 64 balls in Kanpur against England to guide the Indians to an eight-wicket victory. In the England series and the preceding tour to South Africa, Sehwag compiled 426 runs at 42.6 with four half-centuries. After modest returns on the tours of the West Indies and England in early and mid 2002, he scored 271 runs at 90.33 in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, with two man of the match performances. After running out Ian Blackwell, Sehwag was involved in a 192 run partnership with Sourav Ganguly , scoring 126 from 104 balls to help set up an eight wicket victory against England in a group match. He then scored 58 from 54 balls and took 3/25 including two wickets in the final over to help defeat South Africa by 10 runs to help India progress to the final, which was cancelled due to persistent rain. In late 2002 Sehwag scored an unbeaten 114 from 82 balls to lead India to a nine wicket win over the West Indies in Rajkot, after a 196 run partnership with Ganguly. He then enjoyed two centuries on the tour to New Zealand in early 2003, a 108 in Napier despite a New Zealand victory and 112 in Auckland in a one-wicket victory. In the 2003 World Cup, although Sehwag had a largely disappointing tournament, scoring 299 runs at an average of 27, Sehwag top scored with 82 in the loss against Australia in the final. Later in 2003, Sehwag scored his fourth century and earned a man of the match award against New Zealand in Hyderabad, scoring 130 and putting on a 182 run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar , to lay the foundations for a 145 run victory. Sehwag was twice named man of the match in late 2004 against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, but the latest of his thirteen awards was for his 108 from 95 balls against Pakistan in Kochi in early 2005, his first century in eighteen months which set up a 95 run victory. Since then Sehwag has gone 51 matches without a century, as well as having his ODI tour of Pakistan in early 2006 curtailed due to a shoulder injury. Sehwag’s drought in limited overs cricket has been noticed by pundits, who were puzzled by his inability to translate his fast and heavy scoring in Tests to the one day arena and Sehwag's form has continued to decline, and he has now failed to pass 17 in his last seven games. India have won only two of those games. Sehwag's scoring rate is extremely quick, at 96.76 runs per 100 balls (it is exceeded only by six current players, only one of whom has played 100 matches), but his average is a fairly ordinary 31.50. Sehwag is often noted for his extremely aggressive style of batting, and in 2005 he was described by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack as the "most exciting opener in the world", though his strike rate in Test cricket being inferior to that of Adam Gilchrist and Shahid Khan Afridi and was referred to by Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer as a sophisticated slogger. And lastly, if India couldn’t replace Ganguly who had an average of near 40 in Test cricket then how will they replace Sehwag who has an average of 50 in the longer version of the game? 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