‘When those 2 pacers bowled, felt like I was facing spinners’: Sehwag on his favourite 309-run knock

Virender Sehwag, an Indian legend, relished batting against Pakistan. In reality, Sehwag scored a total of 2347 runs against Pakistan, 1276 in Tests and 1071 in ODIs.

Virender Sehwag used to perform admirably against Pakistan. Among all the noteworthy innings he played against Pakistan, his triple century in Multan in 2004 was the first time an Indian batsman recorded a 300-plus score in Tests. As India declared on 675/5 in the first innings, Sehwag hit 309 and Sachin Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 194. Pakistan scored 407 in the first innings and were forced to bat again. India wins by an innings and 52 runs after scoring 216 in the second innings.

“My 309-run knock at Multan is my favourite memory from India vs Pakistan rivalry, because no one expected that a player like Sehwag, an opener could score 300. People were saying… when I was playing, the media used to write, the commentators used to say that Sehwag is not Test player, he cannot make big runs this and that,” Star Sports uploaded a video of Sehwag as saying on their show ‘Frenemies’.

“The good thing about that innings was that the previous four innings did not go well for me, which happened in the ODIs against Pakistan. I had this feeling that if I did not score runs even in the Test series, I may get dropped. So, this time, if I get the start, like score 30-40, I have to convert it into big runs. Then I got a good start in Multan,” he added.

Sehwag said that confronting Akhtar and Mohammad Sami benefited him initially when facing other Pakistan pacers. “I had this fear that the ball is new, the wicket is fresh. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami were bowling really fast – over 145kmph. Shoaib was bowling around 155 kph and Sami was constantly clocking 145. But once both the spells got over, it became easier for me because when the third pacer Shabbir Ahmed and Abdul Razzaq came, it felt like I was facing spinners,” Sehwag said.