Yes, cricket is back on this blog after a month-long hiatus.
Virender Sehwag. What a player. May that glint never leave his eye. Where other batsman see two slips, a gully, point, cover, extra-cover and mid-off, Sehwag sees gaps. Where others see roads to failure, this man sees opportunities. No third man? Okay, here's the upper-cut. Seven fielders on the off? No problem, here comes the slog sweep to midwicket.
What sets him apart from anyone else in cricket today (now that a certain flap-eared Aussie keeper has retired) is that he is always looking to score runs. Always. A knock against Sehwag has been his inability to perform in the second innings. Well, don't look, but since he was resurrected to the Indian side in Perth early this year, in the second innings he has scored 617 runs at an average of 51-plus, with 1 century and 4 fifties in 12 innings.
Sehwag almost single-handedly brought India back into the match. Now they have a more-than-manageable 256 runs in 90 overs equation to negotiate on the last day. If I was the bowling team and I saw that Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Yuvraj, and Dhoni were still there, I'd be more than a little worried. (For more insight on how Sehwag thinks, check out CricInfo).
When Sehwag got out, Dhoni sent in Dravid to negotiate the last few overs of the day. Dhoni must be hoping that a combination of pride and muscle-memory will reignite Dravid's batting, which is currently in the doldrums.
By the way, Chennai spectators, please don't bother showing up tomorrow for the final day's play. If you could not be there to support the Indian team when things were not going their way, you have no right to come in there on the last day and create a ruckus. Or at least if you do, then please have the humility to admit that you gave up on the team for 4 days. It's sad that only cheerleaders and glitzy colors under artificial light can bring you to the stadia. This Test match has been as gripping as any in recent memory and was played in front of largely-empty stands.
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