Congrats Viru

[Rajan]

i liked this one:"I played some good shots, especially the hook and pull shots, which I never expected from myself on these tracks," he said. "I don't know how it comes or where it comes from, but I managed to hit the [short] ball." " what a natural player he is!

[Ram]

When I was watching New Zealand’s innings, I was quite confused by some of the Kiwi commentator’s comments during the middle overs of their innings. That was the period when Guptill and McCullum were at the crease and the RR was slowing down. Then, guys like Ian Smith and Simon Doull were simply imploring their batsman to get a move on, even though their RR was hovering around the 5 mark. They were adamant that a 250 target was not going to be enough against this ‘monstrous Indian batting line-up’. Ian Smith even commented that India ‘may miss Sachin a wee-bit’, but still, NZ needed atleast 280 to be competitive. Upon hearing those comments, it sort of occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, the Kiwis are over-estimating the Indians a bit. Lets be honest, 250-260 is a respectable total under any conditions, but they were firm that it was not going to be enough. After checking the scorecard this morning, I understand why they were so spooked. Can you imagine, we amassed nearly 400 runs in the last match, of which Sehwag contributed only 3. This match, Sachin Tendulkar, the centurion of last match, misses out and yet we hunt down a 200-target in 20 and a bit overs. And I think our batting could still get stronger if Irfan is able to slot in as the third seamer.

[The Outsider]

Tremendous achievment and innings by Sehwag, though a part of me is saddened by the fact that Azhar's record went down - yes records are meant to be broken and all that. For those not aware of Azhar's record at that time it was the fastest ODI hundred in the world and remained so till the Jayasuriya age of ODI cricket arrived. There were quite a few destructive batsmen in those days as well - the likes of Greenidge, Richards, Kapil, Botham, Zaheer Abbas - and for a batsman who was not much of an ODI player at the start of his career and played quite a few slow innings during that phase of the career to hold the record was a great achievement. That the innings came in a lot of adversity made it special as well - India needed 150+ runs at 6+ RPO with half the team out when he started, which was quite a target during those days. The match was supposed to have been televised (it was in Baroda against NZ), but Doordarshan screwed up after NZ's innings and there was no telecast of this great innings. I could follow it only on radio and Times of India the following day. Sportstar also carried a feature of the innings a couple of weeks later. Bracewell and some no name Kiwi spinner were hammered to all corners and India won the match very comfortably in the end. 108 also seemed to some kind of a bogey number for Azhar - his first three ODI hundreds were 108. It was around this time that he really started the transformation into the superb ODI batsman that we would witness for the next decade.

[suraj]

Tremendous achievment and innings by Sehwag, though a part of me is saddened by the fact that Azhar's record went down - yes records are meant to be broken and all that. For those not aware of Azhar's record at that time it was the fastest ODI hundred in the world and remained so till the Jayasuriya age of ODI cricket arrived. There were quite a few destructive batsmen in those days as well - the likes of Greenidge, Richards, Kapil, Botham, Zaheer Abbas - and for a batsman who was not much of an ODI player at the start of his career and played quite a few slow innings during that phase of the career to hold the record was a great achievement. That the innings came in a lot of adversity made it special as well - India needed 150+ runs at 6+ RPO with half the team out when he started, which was quite a target during those days. The match was supposed to have been televised (it was in Baroda against NZ), but Doordarshan screwed up after NZ's innings and there was no telecast of this great innings. I could follow it only on radio and Times of India the following day. Sportstar also carried a feature of the innings a couple of weeks later. Bracewell and some no name Kiwi spinner were hammered to all corners and India won the match very comfortably in the end. 108 also seemed to some kind of a bogey number for Azhar - his first three ODI hundreds were 108. It was around this time that he really started the transformation into the superb ODI batsman that we would witness for the next decade.

Shwetabh I remember Zaheer Abbas as a consistent scorer but not sure he was explosive/destructive like the other batsmen that you mentioned. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am becoming forgetful

[Mamu]

Tremendous achievment and innings by Sehwag, though a part of me is saddened by the fact that Azhar's record went down - yes records are meant to be broken and all that. For those not aware of Azhar's record at that time it was the fastest ODI hundred in the world and remained so till the Jayasuriya age of ODI cricket arrived. There were quite a few destructive batsmen in those days as well - the likes of Greenidge, Richards, Kapil, Botham, Zaheer Abbas - and for a batsman who was not much of an ODI player at the start of his career and played quite a few slow innings during that phase of the career to hold the record was a great achievement. That the innings came in a lot of adversity made it special as well - India needed 150+ runs at 6+ RPO with half the team out when he started, which was quite a target during those days. The match was supposed to have been televised (it was in Baroda against NZ), but Doordarshan screwed up after NZ's innings and there was no telecast of this great innings. I could follow it only on radio and Times of India the following day. Sportstar also carried a feature of the innings a couple of weeks later. Bracewell and some no name Kiwi spinner were hammered to all corners and India won the match very comfortably in the end. 108 also seemed to some kind of a bogey number for Azhar - his first three ODI hundreds were 108. It was around this time that he really started the transformation into the superb ODI batsman that we would witness for the next decade.

Zaheer Abbas a destructive batsman? The most over-rated cricketer of all times. Thankfully the pundits understand it and do not include him on their greats list. Slice and dice his stats and see what u get.

[The Outsider]

^ He was rated very highly as an ODI cricketer during those days - in Tests he was a FTB.

[suraj]

Zaheer Abbas a destructive batsman? The most over-rated cricketer of all times. Thankfully the pundits understand it and do not include him on their greats list. Slice and dice his stats and see what u get.

This is exactly what I was thinking too- although based more on memory rather than stats http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showpost.php?p=609580&postcount=47

[Mamu]

Shwetabh I remember Zaheer Abbas as a consistent scorer but not sure he was explosive/destructive like the other batsmen that you mentioned. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am becoming forgetful

He wasnt a consistent scorer either. He was at his class ONLY in the PakiLand. his away average would make the likes of Jayawardene and others smile. He toured every nation atleast twice and he has scored centuries ONLY in england (and I think 1 in Aus). His away average is less than 40 and if you take away England it falls to even less than that. He was painful to watch when he was in India during the 83 - 84 series. Only the ***** heads from across the border glorify him, but then they glorify even AssFridi .

[Lord]

Wat A Player,wat An Innings.completely Brutalised The Bowlers.they Must Be Having Nightmares

[Mamu]

^ He was rated very highly as an ODI cricketer during those days - in Tests he was a FTB.

Yes by the ENglish Media. Remeber everything the English said was Gold at that time. Thats cuz he did well in ENgland and even in the county circuit. As I said slice his data and you will see what I am saying.

[The Outsider]

This is exactly what I was thinking too- although based more on memory rather than stats http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showpost.php?p=609580&postcount=47

Perhaps I am a bit biased towards him because he falls into the elegant category of Azhar, Laxman, M Waugh, Martyn, Jaisimha etc. whom I have a soft corner towards but I just checked his ODI stats and they are pretty impressive - average of 45 with a SR of 85, so my recollection of him being a valued ODI player is not completely off.

[suraj]

Home: Span Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 unfiltered 1974-1985 62 2572 123 47.62 7 7 filtered 1976-1985 26 1236 123 58.85 5 5 Away filtered 1974-1985 18 627 108 39.18 1 Yeah quite a dhakkan player in ODIs away from home:giggle::giggle: He did play in nuetral venues too filtered 1975-1985 18 709 103* 41.70 1

[Sachinism]

39 average is not that bad

[fineleg]

Only sehwag gets sehwag out in this sort of mood. If he does a silly or brain freeze shot, he'll get out. Else he can score 100 in every 3 or 4 ODIs.

[jf1gp_1]

can someone inform Kiwi's that Sehwag has a higher avg in test, bats exactly how he does in ODIs and has 3 200+ score and 2 300+ score

[punjabi_khota]

can someone inform Kiwi's that Sehwag has a MUCHO higher avg in test' date=' bats exactly how he does in ODIs and has 3 200+ score and 2 300+ score[/quote'] They will find out first hand. B->B->

[Holysmoke]

can someone inform Kiwi's that Sehwag has a higher avg in test' date=' bats exactly how he does in ODIs and has 3 200+ score and 2 300+ score[/quote'] Lets not :--D

[Nash]

You all are missing one point here. About sehwag and on the body shot. The main thing with sehwag is speed. If you throw ball into his body with speed of 145+ he will be in trouble. NZ bowlers were bowling the speed of 130ish on veru and he had hell lot of time to play his shot. So still, when quality fast bowler on bonce peach , veru might be in trouble.

[graphic23]

You all are missing one point here. About sehwag and on the body shot. The main thing with sehwag is speed. If you throw ball into his body with speed of 145+ he will be in trouble. NZ bowlers were bowling the speed of 130ish on veru and he had hell lot of time to play his shot. So still, when quality fast bowler on bonce peach , veru might be in trouble.

He's just eat that up. The only trouble would be his fitness.

[Lord]

You all are missing one point here. About sehwag and on the body shot. The main thing with sehwag is speed. If you throw ball into his body with speed of 145+ he will be in trouble. NZ bowlers were bowling the speed of 130ish on veru and he had hell lot of time to play his shot. So still, when quality fast bowler on bonce peach , veru might be in trouble.

Like how he had trouble against Lee in Melbourne,or Actor,Sami in Multan OR Steyn,ntini in Chennai.....oh wait....he didnot have any trouble against them:cantstop: