Virender Sehwag : The Merciless Nawab of Najafgarh

If there is one batsman today that most bowlers fear about, the name has to be Virender Sehwag. The super performer of the Indian cricket team is hard to stop when on a song and is well known for merciless hitting all over the cricketing pitch.

Born on 20 October 1978, Sehwag affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman who has made a big name for himself in the world of test, one day international, and twenty-twenty cricket formats.

Be it a Test match, a One-Day International or a Twenty20 Bash, he is the spectators’ delight, a sixomaniac who skies the ball whether he is on 0 or 99. Also he has the twenty-twenty vision to see the ball a fraction earlier than most batsmen. He hardly moves his feet as he jumps out and a sixer climbs the sky. Then he drives the ball effortlessly straight or through the covers.

Sehwag arrived on the Test scene with a characteristic flourish. In his debut he batted at number 6 and scored 105 adding 222 runs with his hero Tendulkar for the fifth wicket after India was at 4-68. This was against South Africa in the Bloemfontein Test of November 2001. But soon he emerged as his own man. In the 2004 Multan Test against Pakistan, as Tendulkar played a supporting role, Sehwag romped to 309, the first triple century by an Indian. And he brought it up with a six. Two Tests and three months ago in Melbourne, for five hours he fascinated the Boxing Day crowd of 62,600 by belting five sixes and 25 fours in his spectacular 195 he had been dismissed trying the same stroke five runs short of what would have been his first Test double-hundred. At Multan, Sehwag thrashed six sixes and 39 fours in his epic 309 off 375 balls.

After being such a talented cricketer, why does he still has to prove himself every time? Players like Dravid, VVS and Sachin are included in the team no matter even if they are out of form and he is shown the exit doors the day he loses his form. He was dropped in the first two Tests against Australia in the controversial 2007-08 series in Australia. But Anil Kumble picked him in the next two and he scored 151 in the final Adelaide Test. Australian spectators love his unorthodox batting as much as they cheer the elegant stroke-play of Tendulkar, Dravid and VVS.

His highest score is 319 at a strike-rate of 105 against South Africa in the March 2008 Chennai Test. It included five sixes and 42 fours. He had hammered 257 runs in a day.

The star batsman became the only Indian to be honored as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in April 2009 for his performance in 2008 and subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.

He is an idol for any person who wants to be successful, for that matter in any field of career. So, his presence in the team makes the joy both sweet and sour as he can be helpful but can be destructive also.

Virender Sehwag has many records to his name.

• The prolific run-scorer is credited with the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) and the highest score made by an Indian in test cricket (319).
• Sehwag also holds the record for the fastest 250 in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai by any batsman. Sehwag is also credited for being the only Indian to score a triple century in test cricket, with 309 against Pakistan in the First Test in Multan.
• If that was not enough, Virender Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world of cricket to have ever surpassed 300 twice in test cricket and the exclusive one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul.
• Most Test runs in a single day by an Indian. Sehwag made 257 in a day against SA in Chennai. He surpassed this in making 284 in a day against Sri Lanka.
• Fastest century in ODI cricket by an Indian - 100 runs off 60 balls against New Zealand in 2009
• Two consecutive double century partnerships in a Test innings. He achieved this record, for the first two wickets in Chennai on 27–28 March 2008 (with Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid respectively). This was the first time in Test history that the first two wickets in an innings have resulted in double-century stands.
• Sehwag took 134 Test innings to reach 7000 Test runs, becoming the second fastest to do so after Englishman Wally Hammond.
• He holds the record for consecutive test hundreds converted to scores of 150+, at 11.

- By Mandar Kelkar

Brian Lara : The Prince of Cricket

Brian Charles Lara may have left the cricket ground to the delight of bowlers but his name is still rated very highly by all cricket lovers. The reasons - endless!

Brian Lara is the only player in the world ever to have scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century, and a quintuple century in the first class games.
Not only this, Lara still holds the record for most runs in an over in test format when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003. Sir Donald Bradman, the legendary Australian batsman, rated Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (India) as two of the best he has ever seen in modern times, which is a great feat for this humble batsman.

The list of record associated with this stylish West Indian batsman goes on and on - he has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket and Test cricket (501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994 and 400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004, respectively). Born on 2 May 1969, this left-handed batsman was even good with the ball with his right-arm leg-break deliveries.

Awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World awards in 1994 and 1995, Brian Lara rewrote cricket record books with his never-say-die approach, unmatched talent, and determination. Popularly nicknamed as “The Prince of Port of Spain” or simply “The Prince”, Lara announced his retirement on 19 April 2007. When retired, Lara had played 131 tests and 299 one-day internationals and scored 11, 953 runs and 10, 405 runs, respectively.

12,000 Bricks of The Wall - The RD Story

There are some sports personalities ranging from Lance Armstrong to Tiger Woods, Maradona to Michael Johnson who has defied the adversity and champions of the time to emerge as Champions themselves. For me Rahul Dravid is one of these players who have decorated the sports with performances and perfect persona. In this aura when indiscipline and hooliganism are the order of the sporting world Rahul Dravid has restored cricket as a gentleman’s game.
This illustrious journey started about 19 years ago when he made his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991 against Maharashtra in Pune scoring 82 in a drawn match after batting in the No. 7 position. He made his International debut alongside Sourav Ganguly who stole the show at that time with his triple figure show even though Rahul missed the century just by 5 runs.
He came across as a technically correct batsman with strong defense coupled with firm concentration. Shortly he debuted as a one day batsman also. But his game at that time was too slow for one day format as by that time Jayasuriya has changed the face of international limited overs cricket. Dravid was dropped as a batsman from the one day team due to his slowness as batsman, he was declared unfit for one day cricket. That is the point where most of the batsmen are differentiated as ordinary or great. Rahul Dravid chose to be a great player. He made his comeback in the series in New Zealand in 1998/99 and replied his critics with a century scoring 123 off 123 balls. He is only one of the few players ever who play spin and pace equally well. His 60-ball-92 in the ODI series vs. England in 2007 stands testimony to the
strides he has made over a period of time. He is the second Indian batsman, after Sachin Tendulkar and the third international player after Ricky Ponting to have scored more than 12,000 runs in Test cricket

All his shots, whether the typical square cut or the leg side drives through mid on even the inside out lofted drive over mid off, all were result of the hard work put in the nets. Rahul has been such a perfectionist of the game that after every dismissal he can be seen checking his shot to find out the error he made instead of throwing is head back is a disgusting manner.

Dravid has always put his best foot forward for the betterment of Indian cricket whether it was for taking the responsibility of wicketkeeper for providing right balance to the team. He has even batted at No. 7 for the team for good period of four years when, while batting at his customary No. 3 position. For last 7-8 years Indian teams success in test cricket has been invariably linked to the success of Rahul Dravid with bat. Whether it is Kolkata, Headingley, Leeds, Adelaide, Rawalpindi, Port-of-Spain, Christchurch… one common factor in all the success is Rahul Dravid.

Dravid took over the reigns of Team India in one of the most turbulent times to have come in Indian cricket. He guided the team very well in the initial phase with series wins against Sri Lanka & England.Either the one day series against South Africa or an away win against West Indies in the test series after 35 years on the Caribbean soil in 2006. High point came in his captaincy when India beat Pakistan 4-1 in Pakistan in ODI’s and the test series win against England on English soil in 2007. It was a really difficult task to get the team back on track after the World Cup debacle, Dravid performed even accomplished this feat motivating the team and leading them to comprehensive series win against the Bangladesh. On various instances he has shown the signs of a smart cricketing brain like in Mumbai test in 2004 while defending 104 against Australia he opted to bowl Harbhajan Singh & Murali Kartik first instead of Anil Kumble and Australia were bundled out for a score of 93!

Rahul Dravid is great example of discipline, dedication and determination. His cricketing feats are great proof of that. He is not most gifted cricketer that’s why he puts forward great example for us to learn. He is an idol for any person who wants to be successful, for that matter in any field of career.

I would like to end here with a saying that which Rahul Dravid has exemplified: Patience, Persistence and Practice leads to PERFECTION

The journey continues.

Summary of some of his feats:

1. Dravid currently holds the world record for the highest number of catches 200 in Test cricket
2. Dravid has scored two hundreds in each innings of a test match twice.
3. He had played 94 consecutive test matches after his debut, without missing even a single test match, which is a record, which is a tribute to the fitness levels he has maintained over a period of time.
4. Dravid was top run scorer in the World Cup 1999, scoring 461 runs.
5. Involved in the highest partnership in the history of ODI cricket with a 331 run partnership along with Sachin Tendulkar vs. New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999-2000.
6. He has scored hundreds in 5 consecutive test matches.
7. He was crowned ICC Player of the year 2004.
8. Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000.
9. MTV Youth Icon of the Year for 2004.
10. Captain of the ICC’s Test Team of 2006.
11. Has the record of not being dismissed on duck for 120 consecutive ODI matches.
12. Dravid has also been involved in more than 85 century partnerships with 18 different partners and has been involved in 19 century partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar which is a world record
13. Dravid has faced highest number of deliveries in test cricket, more than 28357 deliveries

-By Mandar Kelkar