I rubbed the morning drowsiness from my eyes and saw a name reading V.Sehwag on the shirt of Tendulkar. Or rather who I thought was Tendulkar.
Another four! That kid not only looks like Tendulkar he plays like him too!
I was impressed by his batting display, elegance and aggression were mixed with the perfection of a Casablanca bartender.
Timing and placement piloted the ball through the gaps until the score board jumped by four.
A well deserved century plus fulfillment of an opener's job, now that was a young promising star. But I knew once Sachin came back he might have to drop lower in the order.
Across the Arabian Sea the Proteas were ready with the red cherry. The two look alikes stood together on the same pitch and made the statisticians work overtime. Now that was a good batting performance, by any standards. Sehwag was in control and played cricketing shots, although he did court lady luck here and there.
And now he is a household name thanks to Mike Denneses and Jagmohan Dalmiya. Although I must say I totally agree with the BCCI's stand on the matter.
So the Brits come to our soil and Turbanator along with the Spinless Wonder Kumble (Pardon my bias!!) saw India through. With the ICC ban still being imposed Sehwag carried drinks but will be in action in the second.
Sehwag is a natural aggressive batsmen. Strong off the backfoot and relies mostly on timing for front foot shots. He does not come down the track often and I must add that he does not pull the ball heck of a lot. Being short he is in a very good position to do that.
There definitely has been a lot of media hype, but Sehwag is a naturally talented player. He needs to tended to properly. Calming his aggression is easier said than done. That might sink his game one notch, or maybe two. Once players get it in their minds that they need to be defensive; they loose concentration.
There is no coaching books for natural play, and never can be. Players like Sehwag need to be monitored not instructed.
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