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ESPNcricinfo Awards
Virender Sehwag "would love" to bat at No.4
Cricinfo staff
February 19, 2010
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Awards 2009 : "I would love to bat at No. 4"
Awards 2009 : One of them Viru days Awards 2009 : Sehwag, Taylor, Tendulkar, Afridi take top honours Awards 2009 : The best of 2009 Players/Officials:
Virender Sehwag
Teams:
India
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Virender Sehwag, the Indian opener, has said he "would love" to bat at No.4, even though he may have to wait until Sachin Tendulkar, who occupies that slot, ends his career. Sehwag was speaking at the ESPNcricinfo Awards ceremony in Jaipur, where he won the prize for best Test innings for the second year running. His audacious 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai was chosen over four other nominations shortlisted for the award.
"I would love to bat at number four. I know I would not get that till Sachin retires. But I can wait," Sehwag said, despite his enormous success at the top of the order. "I still would like to bat in the middle order. It's difficult to field one-and-half days and then come out to bat in 10 minutes. When you bat at No. 6 like (MS) Dhoni, it allows you some rest. I have been successful as an opener but who knows, maybe I would have been more successful in the middle order."
Sehwag's brutal innings against Sri Lanka included 40 fours and seven sixes, and set up an innings win for India, propelling them to the No.1 ranking in Tests. He had tremendous success in 2009 - an average of 108.98 in six Tests - and in the four Tests he's played this year, he's already managed two centuries. Sehwag said his form would only get better in the years to come. "I'm 31 and I think I'm playing well. And I would get only better in the next three-four years."
Sehwag defended his naturally aggressive approach to batting, saying there were risks involved even if he opted to play more cautiously. "People say I take too many risks. But the fact is, there is risk involved in every shot. You can get out trying to defend a ball as well. At times, people tell me to leave ball outside the off-stump. But some of them can jag back and get you out if you don't play shots. I think if you think so much, you simply cannot bat," he said.
"In my case, it would become risky if I try to become defensive, since my technique is not that good. I think in a different way. When I grew up, I tried to score off every ball, be it a 10-over-match, a 20-over or even a Test match. If I stay in the wicket for say about 30 minutes, I want to make the most of it and score maximum runs possible. You never know when you get out, try to score as much possible before that."
Sehwag added he wished to play 100 Tests for India before retiring from the format. "I want to play 100 Test matches and once I have done that, I may retire from Test cricket," he said.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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ESPNcricinfo staff
Jury
Sambit Bal Editor, Cricinfo
Harsha Bhogle Television presenter and writer
Geoff Boycott Former England batsman, commentator
Ian Chappell Former Australia captain, commentator, columnist
Daryll Cullinan Former South Africa batsman, commentator
Peter English Australasia editor, Cricinfo
Tony Greig Former England captain, commentator
David Lloyd Former England coach, commentator
Sanjay Manjrekar Former India batsman, commentator
Andrew Miller UK editor, Cricinfo
Dileep Premachandran Associate editor, Cricinfo
Ramiz Raja Former Pakistan batsman and captain, commentator
Peter Roebuck Former Somerset captain, writer
Osman Samiuddin Pakistan editor, Cricinfo
Statsguru awards
The Statsguru Awards go beyond runs scored, wickets taken or batting average, and are the result of detailed data analyses of performances in 2009. Which batsman played more consistently than any other? Who got the highest percentage of his runs in boundaries? Who was the best bowler in the third and fourth innings? Cricinfo's ball-by-ball data analysis of every international game has answers to these queries and more. The Statsguru Awards are based on these stats. Among this year's big winners: Virender Sehwag, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mitchell Johnson. Full list of winners here
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Shewag's point on risks in defense is right on the mark. Its good that we have a unique thought process brought into the game from him. He may be right about retirement after 100 tests. It will take another five years for him to reach 100 test at the rate we are playing tests these days. By than he will be 36-37 years. Age will catch up quicker with his style of playing than a technique and grafting style.
Posted by leggully on (February 20 2010, 21:41 PM GMT)sehwag is one the big reasn India has startd to win regularly....jst see the pace at which he scores....makes a mess of any attack on his day ..nd der is sharp decrease in run rate when he gets outs.......now jst paintin the purple patch wont do... i fail to understand why he has to give such commments evrytime abt his battin slot... i mean cumon yar...nobody cares wht u vud hav been ...v nly care 4 wht u hav dne...nd dats why u r respected...sumday if he gets up nd tells dat if he ws 6' tall , he might hav been mcgrath....now does that make sense!!!! to comment on dhoni n tendulkar is hardly required at dis time...nd he shud wrk n gainin mre consistency.... he shud undrstand dat tendulkar hs earnd his place at no 4 over hrd wrk f 20 yrs....hez d most consistent batter ovr d years while sehwg is dat 4 last couple f years....nd dhini is basically a keeper who cn bat.... so mr.sehwag ...v all love u ....bt please concentrate on ur cricket....leav controversies 4 media!!!!
Posted byrsquare: are you kidding me. SRT is blatantly incapable of opening an innings. And do you thing with sehwag it will provide same security at middle order that Sachin does ?
Posted by vidyerthy on (February 20 2010, 18:13 PM GMT)@rsquare Why fix somethig that ain't broken...?
Posted by vidyerthy on (February 20 2010, 18:11 PM GMT)That's a depressing thing to say Viru!! I hope nobody lets you bat at 4!! And I hope you carry on playing until your legs and arms come off. Screw technique!! Just bat and hit that damn cherry in your own evanescent way... we love you man!!
Posted by YoBro on (February 20 2010, 18:02 PM GMT)@rsquare - I like the idea of SRT opening the innings if it was a move made when he was like 28 or 29, not at 35 when he has a couple of years left. He's cemented himself there; no need to budge. I think it was inappropriate and silly for Sehwag to air his views (aka desires) publicly while SRT is still very much his peak. By the same token, he might even have failed miserably at #4 - who knows? Often #4 comes in when 2 wickets have fallen for hardly anything as SRT had to experience for much of his career. Playing under those circumstances is a diff ball game. Given that he's such a huge success opening and SRT is a run-machine at #4, why even bring this up and invite discord?
Posted by rsquare on (February 20 2010, 13:53 PM GMT)While it is great to have an attacking batsman like Sehwag opening the innings and thus helping to negate any early help that the bowlers may get from the pitch, his wish for batting at #4 should be given some serious consideration as he has been expressing that since the start of his career (he made his century on debut at #6). Being an ardent fan of Tendulkar, I do think that he is capable of taking the challenge of opening the innings for India in tests and thus showcasing yet another dimension of his batsmanship to the pundits and the many fans. This will also suit the way he has adapted himself to these days - accumulating runs at a steady pace with a lot more grace and ease (more like Gavaskar - the best opener ever!). With Tendulkar opening the innings with Gambhir, the team can retain a LH-RH opening combination while also having a sheet-anchor (SRT) and an attacker (GG) combination. Looking forward to some comments on this!
Posted by shockabsorber on (February 20 2010, 13:50 PM GMT)what.....retiring after 100 tests.....| you are the "SIR VIVIAN RICHARDS" for us don't do this to Indian fans who love u more than anything.....l you don't need to run..... you just have to treat the ball like football and send it to the crowd for HALF A DOZEN..... you have still minimum 9 YEARS of test cricket left