by Shreyas S. Bhide
Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s flawless century steered India to a six-wicket win Monday over England in the first of two five-day test matches in Chennai. But Sehwag really set the pace.
Credit must go to Tendulkar and Yuvraj for the way they batted after the chips being down at 225/4, but the stage for the win was really setup for the historic victory was set by the initial hammering that Sehwag initiated.
Sehwag batted the way only he can and hit English bowlers all over the ground. Lacking the precision of the first innings, the English pacemen provided Sehwag width and he creamed the bowlers between cover-point and third-man. While Sehwag stroked powerfully, he also harnessed the pace and the bounce of the ball. Sehwag almost perished when he sliced Harmison dangerously over a leaping Alastair Cook at gully; the fielder got a hand to the ball. Soon, Sehwag displayed a different aspect of his batting. A glorious on-drive had even Harmison admiring the stroke. Sehwag’s hand-eye coordination, astonishing reflexes and a natural ability to pick the length early enabled him to strike with aggression when others might have merely defended. Sehwag hugely enjoyed his stint in the middle — he was never short of a laugh or a stroke — and the stands filled up. Even England’s player of the Andrew Strauss had himself admiring Sehwag. Picture this - A James Anderson ball had pitched on off stump, but Sehwag had run it off the face of the bat between first and third slip. “There’s not a lot you can do about that,” Strauss said with a shrug. He created room playing beside the line of the ball and dominated square of the pitch with short-arm jabs rather than full-fledged cuts.
The Delhi dasher was high on octane and low on sympathy. England spinner Graeme Swann finally struck to break the crucial partnership between the openers and sent the ‘Delhi Demolisher’ back in the pavilion. India ended a Sunday of contrasts — England’s slow run-rate in the first two sessions was followed by Sehwag’s bludgeoning blows — on 131 for one. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men required 256 more runs for victory on the last day. Tendulkar and Yuvraj, thus completed the rest of the task.
