The Indian trident

Tuesday, December 16, 2008 --

The swashbuckling innings of Sehwag

Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh have led India to it's victory against England in the Test match at Chennai. Sehwag scored 83 runs in 68 deliveries including 11 boundaries and 4 sixers in the 102 minutes that he was on the ground. He had a strike rate of 122.05 in his innings. At a point of time when England was in total command, he simply tore off their bowling attack and made batting look very simple. His innings laid a solid foundation of a probable victory for his country. The mindset of the English team on the last day seemed affected due to Sehwag’s innings. He was aptly rewarded as the Player of the match.

The century maker : Sachin

The calmness and presence of Sachin Tendulkar was very crucial from the Indian point of view. Initially, he was solidly tested against Andrew Flintoff. During this spell, he was absolutely focused and impinged upon his batting and this enabled his batting partner Yuvraj Singh to focus on his game. Tendulkar handled the spin bowlers of England with great adroitness. It could be observed that the England captain Kevin Pietersen was frequently late by a few deliveries regarding the field alterations.

One day specialist : Singh

Yuvraj Singh began his innings by hitting 2 initial fours off Swann. It became obvious that he intended to play his natural game and not waste time as in the first innings when he scored 14 runs in 58 minutes. Although the English cricketers tried their level best to unsettle him, he did not loose his cool and concentration. When the target was less than 100 runs, he pulled Monty Panesar for a sixer. At this stage, he began attacking the new ball. The Tendulkar and singh duo was all set to steer India for a victory.