Super Sehwag stamps his class

Even a hurting back couldn't slow him down. Virender Sehwag batted like the nearby Arabian Sea in high tide - they tried to plug one hole, and he squeezed through the other. He was 16 short of becoming the first man to score triple-centuries in the history of Test cricket, beat the record for the most double-centuries by an Indian, became the second-highest scorer of 250-plus scores, beat his own record for the most runs by an Indian in a day, and gave India enough time to take a huge lead and push for an innings defeat.

This was no monotonous power hitting, but a delightful and clever exercise in finding gaps through defensive fields for most of the innings. Think Twenty20 highlights, but with the batsman playing lovely inside-out chips, straight lofts, reverse-sweeps to beat leg-side fields, flicks to beat off-side fields, and you have Sehwag's innings visualised. Swiss cheese seemed a safer place to bowl on.

He was at his natural innovative, aggressive best and the assault he launched on the Sri Lankan bowlers bordered on the sadistic and the speed with which the runs came put India near a position where they could think of not having to bat again.