Sehwag's total dominance

Virender Sehwag was utterly ruthless in his demolition of West Indies in Indore

08-Dec-2011

Virender Sehwag wagon wheel, 4th ODI, Indore, December 8, 2011

There were stats highlights galore in Indore today, dominated obviously by the highest individual ODI score ever. Here are the other main numbers:

Virender Sehwag finished with 219 from 149 balls, at a strike rate of 146.97. Only five times has a 150-plus score been made at a better rate.

The innings included 25 fours and seven sixes, which means 142 runs came in boundaries. Only once has a batsman scored more runs in fours and sixes in an ODI: Shane Watson struck 15 fours and as many sixes in his unbeaten 185 against Bangladesh earlier in 2011, which means 150 of his runs came in boundaries. (Click here for the full list of most boundary runs in an innings.)

Sachin Tendulkar struck exactly 25 fours too in his unbeaten 200 in Gwalior. No batsman has hit more fours in an ODI innings.

A break-up of his innings shows that he never dropped below fourth gear. His first 50 came at the end of the 15th over, but that's also partially because he didn't get much strike during that period. He reached his fifty with a six, to go from 49 to 55, and thereafter he needed only 28 deliveries to move from 56 to 101. He reached his century in the 23rd over, his 150 in the 36th, and his 200 in the 44th. His last 68 runs came off a mere 37 balls, and included nine fours, two sixes, and seven dot balls.

Sehwag's journey to 219
Runs	Balls	Strike rate	4s/ 6s	Dot balls
0-55	41	134.15	3/ 4	17
56-101	28	164.28	7/ 1	8
102-151	43	116.28	6/ 0	13
152-201	28	178.57	7/ 1	5
202-219	9	200.00	2/ 1	2

Sehwag scored at more than a run a ball against all the bowlers that he faced. He relished Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell more than the rest, but a measure of his dominance can be gleaned from the fact that the most economical bowler against him was Ravi Rampaul, and even he went for 30 from 25 balls.

Sehwag against each bowler
Bowler	Runs	Balls	Strike rate	4s/ 6s
Kieron Pollard	33	19	173.68	4/ 1
Andre Russell	37	22	168.18	4/ 2
Marlon Samuels	42	29	144.82	6/ 0
Darren Sammy	13	9	144.44	0/ 1
Sunil Narine	33	23	143.47	3/ 2
Kemar Roach	31	22	140.90	4/ 1
Ravi Rampaul	30	25	120.00	4/ 0

Thanks to Sehwag's blitz, India finished with their highest ODI total, and the joint fourth-highest by any side. It's also the tenth 400-plus total in ODIs, of which India have contributed four.

Virender Sehwag India West Indies India vs West Indies West Indies tour of India

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter