Virender Sehwag: Top five Test match knocks

Virender Sehwag played Test cricket like the ODIs, redefining the very grammar of the game. Nitin Naik picks five knocks that define the batsman...

309 VS PAK, MULTAN, MAR 2004On those two crazy March days in 2004, Sehwag became the first Indian to score a triple hundred and pave the way for India's first Test win on Pakistan soil. He has seldom cared for history and records. Perhaps that disregard for history - and Sachin's advice - prompted him to hit Saqlain for a six when he was on 299. He later told the press that he wasn't aware that he was the first Indian to score a triple.

319 VS SA, CHENNAI, MAR 2008South Africa racked up 540 on a pitch resembling a highway. After fielding for two days in excruciating heat, Sehwag made little of bowlers like Steyn, Ntini, and Morkel. Upper cuts, shots over mid-wicket and rasping drives were played with stunning efficiency. The result: The fastest ever triple hundred off just 278 balls. He had prepared by not switching on the hotel room air-conditioner!

201* VS SL, GALLE 2008Ajantha Mendis was proving a mystery for India in the previous Test at SSC Colombo. Sehwag seemed on a mission to prove that wasn't true. Playing him more off the back foot, he attacked him and it rattled the youngster. Murali too was taken for runs. Sehwag however held his own and scored 201 to become only the opener after Sunil Gavaskar (Faisalabad, 198283) to carry his bat.

83 VS ENGLAND, CHENNAI, DEC 2008India were set a stiff target of 387 on a wearing track with a day and less than a session remaining. India's Mad Max essayed cuts over slips, thumped Panesar over mid-wicket and played robust drives off Anderson and Harmison in 90-odd minutes of chaotic entertainment. 83 runs off 68 balls meant India had 256 to get with nine wickets intact. Tendulkar got a ton to guide India home, but Sehwag's derring-do had made it possible.

293 VS SRI LANKA, BRABOURNE 2009After India conceded 393 to Sri Lanka, Sehwag bulldozed the rival attack, but missed out on the chance to become the first batsman to score three triple tons when he fell for 293. He brutalised Murali by carving him through the off-side against the spin. He later said, "I was having problems facing him though." India inflicted an innings defeat on the Lankans.