PlanetCricket
Bot
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2010
Article by Sylvester -
As each test goes by, Virender Sehwag stakes raise higher and higher. Sehwag is one of the few batsmen in the modern game whose made a name for himself through a strike rate of above 80 in Test matches. The last well known batsmen to achieve this feat was Adam Gilchrist who also managed to maintain an average in the 50s for most parts of his career. So where will Sehwag stand when he retires from the game?
When you get your first glimpse of Sehwag you would instantly think this guy will eventually get himself out. However Pakistan in particular have found out the hard way that this is far from the truth. Three of his double centuries have come against them including one of his two triple centuries. He also has a triple century against South Africa and a double century against West Indies. In between he has a number of scores between 170 to 200. This is what is amazing about Sehwag, his technique may not be the most technically correct and his method of play certainly shouldn’t lead to this sort of consistency but his aggressiveness helps him get to these high scores faster before his concentration eventually leads to him getting out.
So if we go and take a look at the stats, in terms of most double centuries, Sehwag has six of them which is only behind Sangakkara who has one more than him of the current players and equal with Tendulkar. Sehwag missed a great opportunity to equal Sangakkara in the First Test against NZ when he made 173. This leaves him fifth on the all time list for most double centuries behind a fellow unorthodox but very consistent Brian Lara and of course the legend himself Don Bradman who have 9 and 12 double centuries respectively. Now if we move on to the ultimate number – triple centuries, Sehwag sits equal with Bradman and Lara with two triple centuries. Thus in terms of going on and making the big scores Sehwag fares very well.
One of the big myths going around about Sehwag is him being a home track bully. This is far from the case with Sehwag averaging 4 runs less than his career average of 54 compared to 50 for away matches. He averages close to 60 in Australia which is no easy feat. His record in England, New Zealand and South Africa are his main weak spots. Dravid and Tendulkar don’t fare much better in South Africa but both have very good records in the other two countries which would put them above Sehwag on this front.
Sehwag’s biggest let down is his second innings performance. He averages 29.4 in the second innings with only one hundred compared to his overall average of 54 with 22 hundreds. Dravid and Tendulkar fare slightly better with averages in the 40s compared to their career average of 50. The one man that actually performs better in the second innings compared to the first is VVS Laxman who averages 51 in the second innings compared to his career average of 47.6.
The last form of comparison I’ll use is hundred strike rate. Tendulkar leads the pack with a hundred every 3.5 matches while Sehwag sits at 3.7. Dravid sits at 4.9 and Laxman gets a hundred every 7.2 matches. Both Dravid and Laxman have left a lot of their potential hundreds as fifties with both having over 40 fifties.
Overall it can be seen that Sehwag is very strong in converting his hundreds into very big scores. It is so strong that Sehwag has four scores which are higher than Tendulkar highest score in Test cricket. The thing that brings Sehwag down is his performances in the swinging tracks found in England, South Africa and New Zealand and his second innings performance. This puts him below Tendulkar and just below Dravid but above Laxman. Sehwag still could potentially have another 5 years in his career, if he can improve on his two weak spots he could well go down behind Tendulkar as India’s second best batsmen ever. Knocking over Tendulkar would take a very special 5 years.
More...
As each test goes by, Virender Sehwag stakes raise higher and higher. Sehwag is one of the few batsmen in the modern game whose made a name for himself through a strike rate of above 80 in Test matches. The last well known batsmen to achieve this feat was Adam Gilchrist who also managed to maintain an average in the 50s for most parts of his career. So where will Sehwag stand when he retires from the game?
When you get your first glimpse of Sehwag you would instantly think this guy will eventually get himself out. However Pakistan in particular have found out the hard way that this is far from the truth. Three of his double centuries have come against them including one of his two triple centuries. He also has a triple century against South Africa and a double century against West Indies. In between he has a number of scores between 170 to 200. This is what is amazing about Sehwag, his technique may not be the most technically correct and his method of play certainly shouldn’t lead to this sort of consistency but his aggressiveness helps him get to these high scores faster before his concentration eventually leads to him getting out.
So if we go and take a look at the stats, in terms of most double centuries, Sehwag has six of them which is only behind Sangakkara who has one more than him of the current players and equal with Tendulkar. Sehwag missed a great opportunity to equal Sangakkara in the First Test against NZ when he made 173. This leaves him fifth on the all time list for most double centuries behind a fellow unorthodox but very consistent Brian Lara and of course the legend himself Don Bradman who have 9 and 12 double centuries respectively. Now if we move on to the ultimate number – triple centuries, Sehwag sits equal with Bradman and Lara with two triple centuries. Thus in terms of going on and making the big scores Sehwag fares very well.
One of the big myths going around about Sehwag is him being a home track bully. This is far from the case with Sehwag averaging 4 runs less than his career average of 54 compared to 50 for away matches. He averages close to 60 in Australia which is no easy feat. His record in England, New Zealand and South Africa are his main weak spots. Dravid and Tendulkar don’t fare much better in South Africa but both have very good records in the other two countries which would put them above Sehwag on this front.
Sehwag’s biggest let down is his second innings performance. He averages 29.4 in the second innings with only one hundred compared to his overall average of 54 with 22 hundreds. Dravid and Tendulkar fare slightly better with averages in the 40s compared to their career average of 50. The one man that actually performs better in the second innings compared to the first is VVS Laxman who averages 51 in the second innings compared to his career average of 47.6.
The last form of comparison I’ll use is hundred strike rate. Tendulkar leads the pack with a hundred every 3.5 matches while Sehwag sits at 3.7. Dravid sits at 4.9 and Laxman gets a hundred every 7.2 matches. Both Dravid and Laxman have left a lot of their potential hundreds as fifties with both having over 40 fifties.
Overall it can be seen that Sehwag is very strong in converting his hundreds into very big scores. It is so strong that Sehwag has four scores which are higher than Tendulkar highest score in Test cricket. The thing that brings Sehwag down is his performances in the swinging tracks found in England, South Africa and New Zealand and his second innings performance. This puts him below Tendulkar and just below Dravid but above Laxman. Sehwag still could potentially have another 5 years in his career, if he can improve on his two weak spots he could well go down behind Tendulkar as India’s second best batsmen ever. Knocking over Tendulkar would take a very special 5 years.
More...
Concentrating is not his style, just hit out or get out is his style!
