5 reasons why Virender Sehwag is India's greatest Test opener

The former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag is one of the greatest cricketers in the world. His mantra of 'see the ball, hit the ball' made him one of the aggressive openers in the history of cricket. He used to play all kinds of the format in the same manner.

Sehwag is the only Indian opener to score more than 7500 runs in both the ODI and Test cricket. However, Sehwag, the Test opener was better than Sehwag, the ODI opener.

He made his Test debut as a middle-order batsman against South Africa in 2001. After a couple of games, his skipper, Sourav Ganguly asked him to open the innings. He then redefined the role of openers in Test cricket.

He has broken several records during his international career. He is arguably the greatest Test opener ever played for India. Here are the 5 reasons why Virender Sehwag is arguably India's greatest Test opener.

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#5 Fearless approach

First Test - Day Two: India v Australia

Virender Sehwag's batting approach was fearless. He showed braveness in every delivery he faced. He is one of the fearless cricketers in the world. Sehwag never afraid of facing the bowlers during his career.

With his fearless batting approach, he demolished each and every bowling attack in the world. It's always treated to watch his aggressive batting. While others play carefully to reach the century, Sehwag could smash a huge six to reach triple-century in Tests.

“Up, up and there it is! Huge six! 300 and can you believe it he got it with a six. The audacity to think about just launching one over deep mid-on… a brilliant 300. Here is the new member of the 300 club – Virender Sehwag!”

He also smashed the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock, and many more during his International career.

#4 Attacking straight away to build pressure on the opposition

Fourth Test - Australia v India: Day 5

The opening batsmen always try to leave the new ball to settle before playing cricket in an aggressive manner. But, Sehwag handled the new ball in a unique way. He used to hit the bowlers from the very first over that built the pressure on the oppositions. He is known for his first ball fours and sixes. Sehwag has mastered in building the pressure on the oppositions.

#3 Ability in different conditions

First Test - India v South Africa: Day 3

Some cricketers look comfortable in flat tracks and some in green tracks and then there is Virender Sehwag who was good in almost every condition. He used to smash all spinners and pacers over the park during his Test career.

Sehwag scored against all opposition under different conditions in the Test format. In the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries, when others struggle to score runs, Sehwag amassed around 1900 runs in just 56 innings at a decent average of 34. He also smashed four hundred and seven fifties in the toughest conditions.

#2 Tackling swing or removing the shine off the ball

Second Test: India v England - Day Five

Virender Sehwag redefined the opener's role in the longest format of the game. Instead of wasting time on the crease, he used to hit the new ball all over the park to remove the shine from the ball.

There was an incident when Sehwag smashed Razzaq's reverse swing delivery for a huge six that forced umpires to pick another ball that would not reverse straight away. In a county championship, Jerome Snape complained Sehwag about reverse swing.

In the very next over, Sehwag hit the ball outside the park and said, "The ball won't reverse now and we are safe for the next one hour."

#1 Statistics

First Test - India v South Africa: Day 3

If you look even at stats, Virender Sehwag is India's greatest ever Test opener. During his Test career, he has scored 8586 runs in 104 games at an excellent average of 49.34.

He has a strike-rate of more than 80 in the Tests which is most by any player who has scored more than 2000 runs in Tests. Another former Indian opener, Sunil Gavaskar has scored more than 10000 runs Test cricket but he failed in the category - who could smash the balls from the very first over.

Sehwag has also scored 23 hundreds which included 11 consecutive 150's in Tests. He became the first Indian to score 300 runs in an innings in 2004 and registered another triple-century in 2008.