Don't Miss

India's CWG 2026 Medal Tally Lowest In 24 Years, Yet Among The Best

Tactical Self-Destruction: How England Threw Away Their World Cup Final Dream

Bundesliga Blueprint: How Zee Plans To Complete India's Football Jigsaw

Manuel Neuer Doesn't Know Where To Stop: Not On The Pitch, Not In His Career

Advertisement

ENG

Dark / Light mode

Oct 9,2026 01:32 AM IST

Virender Sehwag's century ends speculation

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

Settings

Select Language

Dark / Light mode

Search

Cricket

arrow-down reddit snapchat twitter facebook comments email printer search bell top-nav reddit-fill snapchat-fill twitter-fill facebook-fill share whatsapp-fill bookmark arrow-rgt arrow-next arrow-up refresh close link cog star book zap cricket football tennis formula-1 badminton hockey golf boxing ndtv-n check left-arrow right-arrow

Live Cricket Matches

India Matches

IPL 2026

Football Matches

ISL

EPL

All Matches

India Matches

EPL

Sports Home Cricket Features Virender Sehwags century ends speculation

Related Articles

Story ProgressBack to home

Virender Sehwag's century ends speculation

There wasn’t an iota of doubt that Virender Sehwag’s form coming into the Ranji Trophy opener against Uttar Pradesh was patchy. His struggles in the Test arena since the hurried comeback from a shoulder injury against England at Edgbaston in July 2011 have been well documented.

Read Time: 3 min

New Delhi:

There wasn't an iota of doubt that Virender Sehwag's form coming into the Ranji Trophy opener against Uttar Pradesh was patchy. His struggles in the Test arena since the hurried comeback from a shoulder injury against England at Edgbaston in July 2011 have been well documented.

In between, he has sparkled on the odd occasion, including a one-day international world record score of 219 against West Indies at Indore in December 2011. There was also some swashbuckling strokeplay in the Indian Premier League this year. However, in the Test arena, he hasn't been anywhere close to the lofty standards that saw him score 22 Test centuries, the last of which came exactly two years ago, against New Zealand at Nagpur in November 2010.

A few questions were raised when he failed in the first innings against Uttar Pradesh. A scratchy innings of 25 saw him completely at sea against the swing bowling of Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar on a fresh pitch that offered a lot of lateral movement. One could also sense signs of frustration from within. There was a cry of anguish every time he was beaten, but the worrying sign was that he played down the wrong line on quite a few occasions.

The next day saw him confined to the dressing room for a majority of the day after injuring his finger while trying to take a catch at first slip. He didn't come out to open with Gautam Gambhir in Delhi's second innings. He finally emerged at No. 6, much to the delight and relief of everyone concerned.

Delhi were still trailing UP by 22 runs with six wickets in hand. They were precariously placed, and knew that at best they could just squeeze out one point by batting out four sessions to save the game. It was not something you would expect Sehwag to do, given that aggression has been the hallmark of his career.

He remained unbeaten on 21 overnight, with Delhi just managing to wipe out the deficit. The early winter haze has meant that the first session has always seen assistance for the bowlers, but when Sehwag walked out on the final morning, he was a man on a mission.

For a majority of the first session, the focus was on survival. There were flashes of impatience, especially against the left-arm spin of Ali Murtaza, who tried to induce him to play the big shot by tossing the ball up over the eye line. Sehwag did step out on a couple of occasions, but the ball was met with a dead bat.

It wasn't a flawless innings by any means. He was fortunate to receive a lease of life on 70, when Suresh Raina fluffed a chance at first slip, but it was his resolve to stay clear of risk that was the highlight of his knock.

The period from 80 to 100 runs can be a slow passage for some. Not for Sehwag though. Once he approached his hundred, there were the typical elements. A couple of fierce cuts and a boundary through third man off three consecutive deliveries took him from 83 to 95, and then a rasping straight drive in the next over took him to 99.

The celebration after getting to the hundred wasn't about proving a point to either the selectors or his critics. It was a simple gesture - a look up to the heavens, a raise of his bat to the crowd's applause and to the dressing room, and then the punch on the gloves of his partner at the other end. He was dismissed for 107, shortly after lunch, but not before he had made his statement.

There is no place for ifs and buts in sport. No one will ever know what would have been had Sehwag failed in the match. A lot of theories could have cropped up, and questions raised about his form and fitness. In the end though, it was a simple case of Sehwag letting his bat do the talking, burying all speculation in the process.

Featured Video Of The Day

India Ends CWG Boxing Campaign With Record-Breaking Seven Gold Medals

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket DEL Bangladesh Cricket Team Virender Sehwag UP Vikram Solanki Virat Kohli Wasim Jaffer Irfan Pathan Paul Valthaty England Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team

Get the Latest Cricket, Asian Games 2026, Football , Hockey, Badminton Scores, F1 Results at NDTV Sports. Like Us On Facebook Or Follow Us On Twitter For More Sports Updates. You Can Also Download The NDTV Cricket App For Android Or iOS.

Advertisement

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

Advertisement

ICC Rankings

Advertisement

Now Trending

Advertisement

Trending Links

Follow us on:

facebook

twitter

Cricket

Football

More Sports

Formula 1 Tennis Hockey Badminton Golf Nba Kabaddi Shooting Swimming Table Tennis

This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics © Copyright NDTV Convergence Limited 2026. All rights reserved.