Sehwag and a record that may never be broken

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Two seasons ago, not far from here, the Master had penned his name on possibly the last remaining batting record in the history of the game, bringing to an end a 40-year-long wait to witness an individual double century in ODIs.

But this particular record was never for keeps. Not with someone in the same team who has two triple hundreds in the long version of the game, both scored at faster than run a ball. On Wednesday against the West Indies in India’s 153-run win in the fourth ODI here, Virender Sehwag finally claimed what was rightfully his, smoking 25 hits to the fence and seven over it in his 149-ball massacre that yielded a colossal 219 – the highest individual score surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 200 notched up against South Africa in Gwalior last year.

India on the back of his carnage and partnerships with Gautam Gambhir (67) and promoted Suresh Raina (55) for the first and second wicket, worth 176 and 140 runs respectively notched up a whopping 418/5 in 50 overs, and then bundled out the Windies for 265 in 49.2 overs to seal the five-match series 3-1 with a match to go. But the result was utterly inevitable even before the Holkar Stadium lights flickered on and they came out to bat. Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin played a lone hand with a fighting 96, but the rest never showed the inclination, to make a meal of it.

Just how extraordinary Sehwag’s innings was can be gauged from the fact that he had already reached 200 in the 44th over off just 140 balls with cut past point to the boundary. Sachin Tendulkar, in contrast, had notched up his 200 in the final over of the innings. By the time he departed in the 47th over, Sehwag had put daylight between him and Sachin, and achieved a record that may never be broken again.

For the most part, it was a typical Sehwag innings. Like his other 14 ODI hundreds, he pounded everything that was offered to him – good or bad, pitched up or short – survived a run-out chance and dropped catch by Darren Sammy when he was on 170, and then made the Windies pay for it. But having had a listless 2011 and not having made any real contribution in the first three games, it was clear that he wanted to occupy the crease for longer. In between a torrent of boundaries, he played a silent over from Windies pacer Ravi Rampaul – India’s eighth - where he defended five balls! At the end of the 10th over, India were 63/0 with Gambhir having outscored him.

From then on, there was no holding him back. He got to his fifty with a six with a monstrous hit over long-on off spinner Sunil Narine in the 15th over, his hundred with a slash over point off Keiron Pollard seven overs later. By the 30th over mark, India were way inching close to 250.

Unsurprisingly, the Windies bowlers took a universal pounding. Kemar Roach disappeared for 88 runs in ten overs, Pollard going for 65 off his seven and as the innings reached its crescendo, a flustered Andre Russell conceded 13 runs from one over, a thunderous upper-cut six from Sehwag included.

The last 10 overs saw India score 96 runs, putting the match way beyond the Windies. Sehwag’s knock over shadowed Gambhir’s knock which was instrumental in getting India off to a flyer, and on any given day it would have been a match-winning performance. But Wednesday was Sehwag’s day and neither Gambhir or Tendulkar sitting in Melbourne would argue with it.