On This Day- Virender Sehwag joins ODI 200-run club after Sachin Tendulkar (Photo Source: ICC & Raghu/X/Twitter)
India have produced some legendary batting stalwarts over the years. But there are a few special breeds of players who made a mark in the world of cricket on a different level. One such player who redefined the approach to batting be it in the limited over formats or the Test cricket was none other than Virender Sehwag. The ‘Sultan of Najafgarh’ changed the way an opener was traditionally looked at in Indian cricket.
Hence, OnThisDay (December 8) in the year 2011, the explosive batter etched his name in a special elite list of batter in ODI cricket. Fascinating enough, Sehwag started his career as a middle order batter and modelled his way of playing around his idol, Sachin Tendulkar. But later on, the former Skipper Sourav Ganguly, known for his exemplary vision, pushed him to play as an opener and the rest became history.
The first man on the planet to score a double century in the history of Men’s ODI cricket was the legendary Tendulkar, who smacked South Africa all over the park for fun to breach the surreal triple-figure mark in the limited-overs format. Notably, he played a majestic unbeaten knock (200*) in Gwalior in the year 2010. What was initially looking impossible to breach by any other batter, Sehwag stepped up to righty justify his batting calibre and made the ‘God of Cricket’ proud by surpassing his incredible feat.
For the unversed, On This Day, Virender Sehwag went all guns blazing against West Indies at the Holkar Stadium, in Indore, and produced a memorable double-century innings of 219 runs. During his marathon knock, Sehwag faced 149 balls and smacked seven sixes and 25 fours, respectively. As a result, Sehwag became the second batter to have scored a double century in the ODI history after Tendulkar.
India posted their highest team score in their ODI history
Among other notable performances, Gautam Gambhir played a brilliant supporting role for Sehwag at the start with his 67-run knock. Later on, Suresh Raina provided the final flourish with his half-century.
Virender Sehwag finally got out only in the 47th over by Kieron Pollard. However, it seemed too late for the visitors as by the end of the 50 overs, Team India had posted a mammoth 418 runs. In fact, this score remains the highest team score by Team India in the history of the ODIs.
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Speaking of West Indies’ bowling, apart from Pollard, Andre Russell and Kemar Roach managed to pick a wicket each. In reply, the Caribbean side suffered an early jolt in the second over itself in the form of Kieran Powell. The rest, under the run-chase pressure of a nearly impossible-looking target, the West Indian side crumbled soon. The only batter who mustered some courage to show some resistance and put up a fight was Denesh Ramdin, who fell short of a valiant century (96 runs) by just four runs.
In the bowling department for the hosts, star all rounder Ravindra Jadeja and leg spinner Rahul Sharma took 3-wicket hauls. In the end, West Indies were bowled out for 265 as India won the game by a huge margin of 153 runs.