Virender Sehwag Smashes Chennai Super Kings and Records After Being Stung by Jibes From Young 'Critics'

Undeterred by Sourav Ganguly's criticism, Virender Sehwag appeared more hurt by the jibes from his son's schoolmates and he thereafter launched a brutal attack on Chennai Super Kings' bowlers, notching up his second Indian Premier League hundred, off a mere 50 balls.

Torn, undoubtedly, by continued rejection from the national selectors, Sehwag had promised his son to wait for a few games; the young Aryavir obviously did not have to wait long as his famous dad became only the second Indian to record two hundreds in the IPL, after Murali Vijay.

Such was his mood that Sehwag clobbered eight sixes, the most by him during an IPL innings. Sporting spectacles and with slowing reflexes, that was no mean achievement against the likes of Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. It took Sehwag only 58 balls to blast 122, the most runs scored by any batsman against the Super Kings, outstripping Paul Valthaty's unbeaten 120, also for the Kings XI in 2011.

Sehwag had vowed to make his son proud and he did so in style, scoring his runs at the breathtaking strike rate of 210.34, the second highest by a centurion against Chennai. Sanath Jayasuriya, had scored at 237.50 during his knock of 114 not out off 48 balls for Mumbai Indians in 2008.

The 35-year-old, who last appeared for India in March last year and is fast running out of time for a comeback, has the highest strike rate (157.85) in the history of the IPL and therefore it was no surprise when he sent the Super Kings bowlers on a wild leather chase.

"The talent is still there," Sehwag said as he collected his 11th Man-of-the-Match award and it was a testimony to that talent that the Najabgargh marauder became only the seventh batsman to complete a century of sixes in the IPL. He now has 103 'maximums' from 95 games. He rests in the august company of Chris Gayle (192), Suresh Raina (134), Rohit Sharma (126), Yusuf Pathan (111), Yuvraj Singh (110) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (109).

The brutal 122 also currently the highest by a batsman an IPL knock-out game and given that Punjab played out a virtual semi-final against the most successful team in the tournament's seven-year history, Sehwag's son should be well and truly proud of him.

While Sehwag may have missed the flight for Bangladesh and England, that one knock should keep the selectors interested and see how he carries this form into the Champions League Twenty20 later this year.