Connect Virender Sehwag with Viv Richards & Sunil Gavaskar

No, it has nothing to do with the way he bats, or the fact that he's among India's most successful opening batsmen.

Virender Sehwag was dropped down the order in India's first innings at Capetown in the deciding test of the three test series. This is obviously to shield him, averaging 36 from his last 5 tests, and that includes a thrilling 180!

There's now a real chance (hopefully!) that Sehwag will instead make a grand entry later on, but in time to face the second, or even better, the third new ball, if India's new opening pair of Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik continue to bat as well as they have so far. I wonder what Sehwag will feel then, especially if South Africa only take the new ball early tomorrow morning and if Sehwag's just arrived at the crease!

Dinesh Karthik's performance in fact puts pressure on Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played a ridiculous and irresponsible shot just before tea at Durban. Another half an hour of him at the crease could have potentially meant a draw for India. It's just what you need from a reserve player: Grab an opportunity, make it tougher for the chap you replaced to make a comeback and make the selectors think twice before leaving you out!

But back to the original connect question. Viv Richards told Sunil Gavaskar at Chepauk in 1983 when Gavaskar came out to bat at #4 (score 0/2) that it didn't matter where he batted, the scoreline would still be 0 when he came out to bat.

Graeme Smith should perhaps tell Sehwag that it didn't matter what number he came out to bat at, he'd still face the music with the new ball!

Labels: dinesh karthik, india, jaffer, sehwag, south africa