An analysis of Virender Sehwag's Test career runs

Sehwag was the most attacking batsman of his time

A cricketer who entertained the fans throughout his career irrespective of the format, match situation, opposition, bowler, pitch, conditions, etc. has decided to retire from all forms of International cricket and IPL. Easily the most destructive batsman of this century, Virender Sehwag announced his retirement on his 37th birthday.

It is now official that the cricket world will not see Virender Sehwag smash those fearless boundaries for India and in the Indian Premier League. On this occasion, let’s analyse Sehwag’s Test career runs.

Sehwag’s Test career:

Batting:

Mat	Inns	No	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	200s	300s	HS
104	180	6	8586	49.34	82.33	23	32	6	2	319

Bowling:

Mat	Inns	Wkts	Ave	Eco	S/R	5WIs	BBI	BBM
103	91	40	47.35	3.04	93.2	1	5/104	5/118

Every 1000 Test runs:

Runs	Inns	Runs in that innings	Against	Venue	Date
1000	24	130	New Zealand	Mohali	18-Oct-03
2000	38	155	Australia	Chepauk	15-Oct-04
3000	55	201	Pakistan	Chinnaswamy	26-Mar-05
4000	79	65	West Indies	St Kitts	26-Jun-06
5000	99	201*	Sri Lanka	Galle	01-Aug-08
6000	123	293	Sri Lanka	Brabourne	03-Dec-09
7000	134	109	Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	04-Aug-10
8000	160	67	Australia	MCG	27-Dec-11

• Sehwag began his Test career with a century and also completed 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 Test runs with a century in that innings.
• He scored half-centuries in that innings in which he scored his 4000th and 8000th Test runs.

Split-up of every 30 Test innings:

Innings	Runs	No	Ave	100s	50s
1 to 30	1383	0	46.10	5	4
31 to 60	1874	2	66.93	5	6
61 to 90	1033	1	35.62	2	3
91 to 120	1483	1	51.14	3	5
121 to 150	1921	2	68.61	7	9
151 to 180	892	0	29.73	1	5

Against each team

Against	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
Australia	23	45	1	1821	41.38	75.68	3	10	3	195
Bangladesh	4	6	1	176	35.20	84.61	0	2	0	56
England	17	29	1	821	29.32	75.39	2	4	7	117
New Zealand	12	21	1	883	44.15	83.38	2	3	0	173
Pakistan	9	14	0	1276	91.14	80.20	4	2	1	309
South Africa	15	26	0	1306	50.23	80.56	5	2	2	319
Sri Lanka	11	18	1	1239	72.88	99.83	5	3	2	293
West Indies	10	17	0	888	52.23	88.35	2	5	1	180
Zimbabwe	3	4	1	176	58.66	79.63	0	1	0	74

• Sehwag averaged at least 40 against seven teams. He averaged just 35.20 against Bangladesh and 29.32 against England.
• Interestingly, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are the only two teams against which Sehwag did not score any century in Tests.
• Sehwag scored at least two Test centuries against each of the other seven teams.
• Sehwag’s average of 91.14 against Pakistan is the highest by any batsman against the team among all who scored over 1000 runs against Pakistan. Next best average against Pakistan is 79.23 by Mark Taylor of Australia.
• Sehwag had a strike rate of 99.83 against Sri Lanka which is highest by any batsman who scored a minimum of 500 runs against Sri Lanka.

In each country

Host	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
Australia	11	22	0	1031	46.86	74.6	2	5	2	195
Bangladesh	4	6	1	176	35.20	84.61	0	2	0	56
England	6	10	0	278	27.80	64.5	1	1	3	106
India	52	89	3	4656	54.13	83.42	13	19	6	319
New Zealand	5	9	0	180	20.00	97.29	0	0	0	48
Pakistan	6	8	0	732	91.50	85.91	2	1	1	309
South Africa	8	15	0	382	25.46	67.85	1	1	2	105
Sri Lanka	6	11	1	692	69.20	95.71	3	2	1	201*
West Indies	4	7	0	357	51.00	86.44	1	1	1	180
Zimbabwe	2	3	1	102	51.00	99.02	0	0	0	44

• Bangladesh, New Zealand and Zimbabwe are the only countries where Sehwag failed to score a Test century.
• Virender Sehwag averaged 91.50 in Pakistan. The only batsman who averaged more than Sehwag having scored 500+ runs is Sanjay Manjrekar (94.83).

Home vs Away:

Venue	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
In India	52	89	3	4656	54.13	83.42	13	19	6	319
Outside India	52	91	3	3930	44.65	80.86	10	13	10	309

In Asia vs Outside Asia

Continent	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
In Asia	68	114	5	6256	57.39	84.95	18	24	8	319
Outside Asia	36	66	1	2330	35.84	75.72	5	8	8	195

Team’s innings wise

Inning	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
Team's 1st innings	104	1	6438	62.50	83.18	22	18	8	319
Team's 2nd innings	76	5	2148	30.25	79.49	1	14	8	151

• Sehwag’s only Test century in the second innings was his 151 against Australia at Adelaide in 2007/08.

Match’s innings wise

Inning	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
Match's 1st innings	46	1	2615	58.11	80.19	10	5	5	309
Match's 2nd innings	58	0	3823	65.91	85.37	12	13	3	319
Match's 3rd innings	42	0	1247	29.69	78.03	1	6	3	151
Match's 4th innings	34	5	901	31.06	81.61	0	8	5	83

Under each captain

Captain	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
Anil Kumble	9	17	1	1040	65.00	83.93	3	2	0	319
Graeme Smith	1	2	0	83	41.50	87.36	0	1	0	76
MS Dhoni	40	70	2	3158	46.44	90.46	8	16	7	293
Rahul Dravid	19	33	1	1533	47.90	79.22	4	4	4	309
Sourav Ganguly	31	50	2	2519	52.47	73.67	8	7	4	201
Virender Sehwag	4	8	0	253	31.62	96.56	0	2	1	62

• Sehwag averaged 52.47 under Ganguly and 46.44 under Dhoni.
• Sehwag played one match for ICC World XI in which Graeme Smith was the captain.

Year wise

Year	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	Ducks	HS
2001	4	5	0	235	47.00	65.27	1	1	0	105
2002	10	16	0	637	39.81	72.63	2	3	1	147
2003	5	10	0	522	52.20	73.21	2	0	1	195
2004	12	19	1	1141	63.38	73.61	3	4	2	309
2005	8	14	1	785	60.38	78.42	2	2	1	201
2006	12	21	1	791	39.55	84.96	2	2	4	254
2007	1	2	0	44	22.00	83.01	0	0	0	40
2008	14	27	1	1462	56.23	85.84	3	6	1	319
2009	6	9	0	631	70.11	108.98	2	1	0	293
2010	14	25	2	1422	61.82	90.80	5	8	2	173
2011	7	13	0	384	29.53	80.16	0	4	2	67
2012	9	16	0	505	31.56	87.67	1	1	2	117
2013	2	3	0	27	9.00	50.94	0	0	0	19

• Sehwag averaged more than 50 in three consecutive years twice in his career – 2003, 2004, 2005 and then 2008, 2009, 2010.
• Sehwag scored at least one century each year from 2001 to 2010 except in 2007 when he played only 1 test match.
• Sehwag scored 1462 runs in 2008 and 1422 runs in 2010 but could end up only as the second highest run-getter in those calendar years.

Thank you, Sehwag for a glorious career and your name will always be remembered forever!