‘Gutsy’ and ‘tough’ are not words typically used to describe Virender Sehwag innings. A languid batter who seemed to play all his strokes with a sense of disdain for the bowler, Sehwag made a terrific career out of dominating bowlers on batting-friendly wickets and scoring his runs at a canter. Often maligned as a flat-track bully, Sehwag’s 151 at Adelaide in 2008, in a match-saving knock, went to show that a class batter remains a class batter in any situation.
Sehwag had already scored a fluent 63 opening the batting in the first innings at the Adelaide Oval, as India tried to carry forward the momentum from the Perth Test and tie the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a win in the fourth and final Test. Sachin Tendulkar’s 153 and a late rearguard effort from Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble saw India put on a strong 526, and put them in position to go for the win. The wind was taken out of their sails by three Aussie centurions, as Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke batted India out of the game.
A win was off the cards for India now, but Australia were capable of causing a defeat, especially as the ball started to misbehave late in the Test. It was in these difficult conditions that Virender Sehwag came out to open in the fourth innings. He had never scored a fourth innings century in his career before this point, and with Brett Lee making the ball dance, Sehwag was somewhat fortunate not to find a delivery that had his name on it.
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