Now all of a sudden there is talk about Virender Sehwag being the best batsman in the game. There must be someone squirming in Mumbai answering to the name of Dilip Vengsarkar who, as the chairman of the national selection committee, dropped the Delhi mauler for being inconsistent.

Ironically, the purists cannot see how Sehwag can be consistent, given his swashbuckling batting methods and his willingness to take his chances. Fortunately, Sehwag knows what is good and right for him, and has refused to listen to advice, well-meant or otherwise, and this has enabled him to go from strength to strength.

For someone averaging 50 in Tests and all of a sudden a violent and unstoppable force as the poor Kiwis learnt to their enormous discomfiture, Sehwag is going through the best period of his career, batting with a determination to do well what he has been doing all along – terrifying bowlers.

The last batsman to have had the same effect on bowlers was the West Indian, Viv Richards. He never opened the batting as Sehwag does, but for most of his career had the benefit of having two outstanding opening batsmen, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, preceding him in the order. So, in a way, the bowling had been ‘softened’ up for him to go on a rampage.

Not so with Sehwag, who is in the fray right away, even though it is his left-handed partner Gautam Gambhir, who normally takes first strike. But how does he do it? How does he take the bowling by the scruff, irrespective of reputations?

The first reason is his attitude, which is encapsulated in the dictum, ‘read length and hit the ball.’ It is easier said, but Sehwag has made it all very simple for himself. He only regrets when he gets out to a delivery which he honestly believes should have gone to or beyond the boundary.

The second reason is technical.  No other batsman in the contemporary game is stronger and straighter when playing off the back foot. The key to dismissing him is to make him reach on the front foot. But how many bowlers have been able to this? They are so intimidated that they cannot think straight when they bowl to him.