13 Times Virender Sehwag showed that when it's his day, he is the Boss

Virender Sehwag is not Sachin Tendulkar or Sir Don Bradman but it will be fair to say that a cricketer like him is born only once in a century. If Sanath Jayasuriya changed the role of an opener in ODI cricket, Virender Sehwag did the same in Test cricket, that too while breaking more stereotypes as he did facing the red ball. Yes, there have been batsmen like Matthew Hayden, David Warner and Chris Gayle but Virender Sehwag has scored runs at a faster pace than anyone else in Test cricket.

What made Viru special was the never ending swag he scored his runs with. There was no compassion for bowlers. When he used to hit good deliveries for boundaries with nimble footwork, even the world’s best were searching for confidence. Batsmen are shaky while facing their first ball or when they are nearing a hundred and then there was Virender Sehwag who believed in playing his natural game during this nervous time like no other.

Sehwag was truly savage in his batting approach. There are some batsmen you can describe and there are some you should not. He is one of those batsmen you should not try to describe. But still, if there had to be one way to describe Sehwag, it can be through the savage things he has done on and off the field. Here is a list of some of the barbaric stuff done by the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh” throughout his career:

1. When he was too bored of playing dot balls and challenged the bowler to hit a six:

An obscure incident happened during one of Sehwag’s most popular innings. He was plundering South Africa’s bowling to Chennai dust on the flattest of batting tracks. The weather was hot and humid and the fusillade of strokes from Sehwag did not help the confidence of South African bowlers. By the time Viru got to 291, the left-arm spinner, Paul Harris shifted to the mainstream ploy of negative line by bowling into Sehwag’s pads from over the wicket.

Maybe South African’s were trying to play with Sehwag’s patience but assuming that they have known Sehwag after his demolishing work over the years in international cricket, we can safely say that the proteas were not left with any other option. After a few dots, Sehwag went to Paul Harris and told him: ‘Come round the wicket and first ball I’ll hit you for a six.’ Harris accepted the challenge and the very first ball was hit for a straight six by Sehwag when there was a long-off, long-on, deep midwicket and a deep point in place. He moved to 297 with that six and with the help of few singles, he completed his second triple hundred in the next over.

Sehwag could have taken his time to get to his triple century but that is just not him. He was tired with Harris bowling on the pads so rather than spending 10-15 minutes to get to the milestone, he challenged the bowler to bowl over the stumps and struck him for a six with fielders in the deep.