![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.espncricinfo.com\/db\/PICTURES\/CMS\/139900\/139926.2.jpg\" "\\"Sehwag\\"")
“It took nearly 40 years for a batsman to score the first double-century in one-day international cricket but less than two years for the second. Virender Sehwag, the batsman most touted to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the highest individual ODI score, didn’t merely break it – he shattered it and raised the bar so high that it’s hard to imagine anyone, apart from Sehwag himself, raising it higher.<\/p>\n
Unlike Tendulkar in Gwalior, Sehwag wasn’t running out of time as he raced towards 200 in Indore. He got there in the 44th over and had made 219 off 149 balls by the time he was dismissed in the 47th. And in one of cricket’s stranger coincidences, both ODI double-centuries were scored in the same Indian state – Madhya Pradesh – at venues less than 500 kilometres apart.<\/p>\n
Sehwag’s performance led India to 418 for 5, their highest ODI total, and all but ensured India would extend their 2-1 lead and win the five-match series against West Indies. It was an innings characteristic of Sehwag’s approach to batting. He hit his second ball for four and simply did not stop. He took plenty of risks too, surviving two run-out chances and two dropped catches, but thundered on, ensuring India’s run-rate stayed above seven after the 15th over. Sehwag’s only out-of-character moment came in the 20th over, when he dived to avoid being run out. Sehwag never dives. It was a sign that he was determined to stay the course. He went to 50 off 41 balls, to 100 off 69 balls, to 150 off 112 and past 200 off 140. The record was broken with a withering cut that sped to the backward-point boundary, and he celebrated with an aggressive fist-pump before breaking into a smile.”<\/p>\n
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“Before this game, and after each of the previous three in the series, Sehwag had admitted that the top-order failures, which he contributed to, were the reason India had struggled in their three chases. Sehwag had made a duck in the previous match in Ahmedabad, where India lost, but led by example today.<\/p>\n
India hadn’t had a century opening stand for 22 matches. They did two things differently at the Holkar Cricket Stadium. They chose to bat and also opened with their strongest combination, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who will open in Australia, and pushed Parthiv Patel down the order. The upshot of those decisions was an opening partnership of 176 that began smoothly, picked up speed, and gathered the momentum of a runaway train before it was eventually ended, inevitably, by a run-out.<\/p>\n
A strong crowd continued the trend of resurging attendances during the home ODIs and they cheered the first boundary in the second over, when Sehwag flicked Ravi Rampaul’s first ball for four – a treatment he would give three other West Indian bowlers. The first six came off Kemar Roach – a bouncer steered over the slip cordon and placed fine enough to avoid third man. Sehwag looked dangerous from the start. ”<\/p>\n
“The field spread after that but it didn’t matter. Sehwag and Gambhir scored 45 runs between overs 11 and 15. This passage began with Sehwag hoisting the offspinner Sunil Narine’s first ball over the long-on boundary. He then launched Darren Sammy’s first inside out over extra cover. The 100 partnership came in the 15th over, when Gambhir glanced Narine to the fine-leg boundary. This passage ended with Sehwag hammering Narine again, this time into the stands beyond deep midwicket.<\/p>\n
The field came in for the bowling Powerplay and Gambhir immediately cut Roach through point, and then dabbed for a single to reach his half-century off 51 balls. The smash-and-dab combo was a feature of the partnership. The bowling Powerplay produced 41 runs.<\/p>\n
Sehwag ran amok, plundering everyone. He got to his hundred with a fierce cut, hit in the air, grazing the fingertips of the leaping fielder at point before speeding to the boundary. The next ball, he ran Gambhir out, to a direct hit from Samuels. Visibly upset with himself, Sehwag continued to punish West Indies.<\/p>\n
When he was hitting fours, Sehwag preferred to go square of the wicket, flicking and glancing the numerous deliveries he was fed on the pads. When he wanted six, he usually went straighter, targeting the arc between midwicket and long-on. He hit 25 fours and seven sixes in all.”<\/p>\n