Godzilla Sehwag

Framroz Court is an elegant art deco building on Marine Drive. On one side it faces the Arabian Sea, on the other it overlooks Brabourne Stadium.

On Thursday, there were people on the terrace of Framroz Court. They were watching the second day’s play of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka. Prashant Bhaabal, a policeman, was also there. For security reasons. Bhaabal likes cricket. But he likes a shaded corner more. So he moved his chair to one such corner, and with his rifle and lemonade (he has low blood pressure) by his side, he sat down.

I have a feeling Bhaabal later got up from his seat and joined the youngsters near the terrace railing, sun and blood pressure be damned. Something special was happening down at the Brabourne. It was not just another run glut on an easy-paced wicket, which the Brabourne had turned into by Day 2. It had gone beyond that. Even accounting for the benign nature of the pitch, Virender Sehwag had pushed the boundaries of scoring speed and stamina.
The 31-year-old Sehwag reached 200 in 168 balls, 14 less than his previous fastest double hundred. It was the second quickest double hundred in Test history, after Nathan Astle’s 153-ball effort. Had Sri Lanka not batted a few overs in the morning, he may very well have become the first since Sir Don Bradman to score 300 in a day. At stumps, Sehwag was just 16 runs short of the triple. Sixteen runs more would make him the first batsman ever to score three Test triple hundreds in his career.

Even the smart plotter Muralitharan could do nothing to stop the Godzilla that Sehwag had morphed into. Whatever Murali tried bounced off the beast’s hide and ricocheted to the boundary. Eleven of Sehwag’s 40 fours and two of his seven sixes were plundered off Murali.
Asked if he’d ever seen Murali dominated like this, the Sri Lankan allrounder Angelo Mathews said: “Never. But the wicket was so flat. To be frank, it was Sehwag’s day.”

To be frank, that was an understatement.

Framroz Court is an elegant art deco building on Marine Drive. On one side it faces the Arabian Sea, on the other it overlooks Brabourne Stadium.

On Thursday, there were people on the terrace of Framroz Court. They were watching the second day’s play of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka. Prashant Bhaabal, a policeman, was also there. For security reasons. Bhaabal likes cricket. But he likes a shaded corner more. So he moved his chair to one such corner, and with his rifle and lemonade (he has low blood pressure) by his side, he sat down.

I have a feeling Bhaabal later got up from his seat and joined the youngsters near the terrace railing, sun and blood pressure be damned. Something special was happening down at the Brabourne. It was not just another run glut on an easy-paced wicket, which the Brabourne had turned into by Day 2. It had gone beyond that. Even accounting for the benign nature of the pitch, Virender Sehwag had pushed the boundaries of scoring speed and stamina.
The 31-year-old Sehwag reached 200 in 168 balls, 14 less than his previous fastest double hundred. It was the second quickest double hundred in Test history, after Nathan Astle’s 153-ball effort. Had Sri Lanka not batted a few overs in the morning, he may very well have become the first since Sir Don Bradman to score 300 in a day. At stumps, Sehwag was just 16 runs short of the triple. Sixteen runs more would make him the first batsman ever to score three Test triple hundreds in his career.

Even the smart plotter Muralitharan could do nothing to stop the Godzilla that Sehwag had morphed into. Whatever Murali tried bounced off the beast’s hide and ricocheted to the boundary. Eleven of Sehwag’s 40 fours and two of his seven sixes were plundered off Murali.
Asked if he’d ever seen Murali dominated like this, the Sri Lankan allrounder Angelo Mathews said: “Never. But the wicket was so flat. To be frank, it was Sehwag’s day.”

To be frank, that was an understatement.

Like panicking governments in Godzilla-type movies, the Sri Lankan brainstrust employed various lieutenants to save themselves. Welegedera, Kulasekara, the left-armer Herath, Murali, Mathews. He was brutal to all. After the shot, of course, he would look harmless. Sure that the ball was headed to the fence, he would stroll to the other end with chest and stomach out and hands, as always in full sleeves, hanging by his side.

At one point the boundaries came so quick that Ravi Shastri, during a break in commentary, just shook his head and smiled. It does not happen that there is a match on in Mumbai and people forget that Sachin Tendulkar is also in the scheme of things. But that seemed to have happened this afternoon. Sehwag pushed everyone out of the frame.

Brabourne StadiumVirender Sehwag