Gautam Gambhir heaped praise on his former opening partner Virender Sehwag, saying ‘no one can match his impact in Tests’. A swashbuckling opener, Sehwag made 8586 runs from 104 Tests at a strike-rate above 82, scoring 23 centuries and 32 half-centuries.
“No one can match Sehwag’s impact in Tests. No one actually thought he could be such a successful Test opener. People always thought he was always going to be a much more successful white-ball cricketer. But if you look at his records, he is far more successful in red-ball cricket. And that is Virender Sehwag for you,” Gambhir said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected chat show.
Gambhir pointed to an innings in Chennai against England in 2008, where Sehwag’s 68-ball 83 set the base as India chased a target of 387. Sehwag’s assault made it easier for India with Sachin Tendulkar then scoring a ton with the help of half-centuries from Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh.
“I remember one inning which was played in Chennai when we won the Test match against England. We were chasing around 350-odd (387, actually) on a turner, where they had Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, and Virender Sehwag got 60-odd runs.
“Just by scoring 60 (83 actually), if you can become man of the match, that shows the impact of the person.
“And, just setting up the game, if Virender Sehwag bats till Lunch, you will be at around 100. Not a lot of team approach Test cricket like that, when you are batting on Day 1, you want to be as loose as you can. But Virender Sehwag was absolutely different. So that’s why no one can match his impact in Test cricket.”
