5 reasons why Sachin Tendulkar loves to bat alongside Virender Sehwag

Tendulkar is in a totally different world when he bats with SehwagIndia’s Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag form one of the most legendary batting pairs of all time. Together they have scaled many a mountain and demolished bowling attacks at will.It is like a classic tale of master and pupil, however, it works both ways as here the master too learnt a thing or two about his trade from the pupil. It is surely not a secret that both Tendulkar and Sehwag share a lot of mutual admiration for one another.Here we try to discover one side of the coin as we take a look at 5 reasons why the Master Blaster loves to bat with the Delhi Dasher:

#1 The shift of focus towards Sehwag while they are batting

Sehwag’s smashing starts

Batsmen who go after the bowling from the word go are always crowd favorites and manage to bring everyone’s attention towards themselves. Sachin Tendulkar played this role for India throughout the 90s before Virender Sehwag took over the mantle from him.

Whenever the two of them are batting together, Viru’s aggressive strokeplay from the very beginning draws the focus of the world towards him and allows the Master Blaster some breathing space before he gets down to business.

In the first decade of his long career, the focus stayed on Tendulkar alone as he was the one who not only provided Team India a good start, but it was also his responsibility to take it forward from there.

But since Sehwag started to gain prominence, he relieved some of the burden from Tendulkar’s shoulders by being the aggressor on most occasions when they batted together.

This trend continues even after both have retired from the international game, a proof of which we saw in the first All Stars T20 game. Virender Sehwag’s blazing knock at the top of the order kept everyone focussed on him while Tendulkar played in a much-relaxed manner.

#2 The reduced pressure of scoring runs on the Master

Viru gets the pressure off

In the late 1990s, Indian batting was mostly dependent on how Tendulkar performed on a given day. Whether the task was piling up a big score on the board or chasing down a challenging total, the pressure was always on him to make the biggest contribution.

On several occasions, Tendulkar responded well to this pressure but there were times when he succumbed to it because after all he too is only human.

But since the time Sehwag became a regular feature in the Indian batting line-up, things changed drastically and the pressure of getting runs every time he went out to bat reduced for the legendary Mumbaikar.

During many of their legendary partnerships over the years, batting looked more fun for Sachin as opposed to the visible pressure on his face during the first half of his career.

In the recent All Stars game too, bulk of the scoring came from the bat of Viru during their opening stand while Tendulkar looked more keen on keeping the partnership going for as long as possible.

#3 The privilege of having the best seat in the house while Sehwag batted

It’s always great to be at the side of living legends

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the many cricketers who are self-professed fans of Virender Sehwag’s uncomplicated style of batting. Most of those who have witnessed the antics of the Nawab of Najafgarh live have all been left awestruck by his prowess; whether it is the spectators, the opposition players or the umpires for that matter. But no one can be lucky than the batsmen who have watched him from the non striker’s end.

While it is true that there were other batsmen apart from Tendulkar who also watched Sehwag punishing the bowlers while being at the non-striker’s end, it must be noted that the latter was in the best form of his life when he regularly opened the innings in ODIs with the master batsman.

And watching him go after the bowling from the very first ball that he played is a sight that Tendulkar saw more than most of the others who batted alongside Viru.

History repeated itself in the inaugural match of the All Stars T20 when Tendulkar was at the other end during most part of Sehwag’s 55 from 22 balls. And judging by the way, the champion from Mumbai was smiling away during their opening partnership, he was enjoying every moment of watching his partner thrash the bowlers disdainfully.

#4 The inspiration to play outrageous shots

Helping each other

One of the core strengths of a great partnership is the ability to inspire each other to do well. This is one of the traits which can be found in abundance when you talk about the Sachin-Sehwag duo.

While on one hand, the Master Blaster was the man whom Sehwag idolised as a youngster and learnt the tricks of the trade from during his early playing days, on the other, the Sultan of Multan inspired Tendulkar to attempt some outrageous shots, especially during the last few years of his marathon career.

Whenever Tendulkar and Sehwag have batted together, a sort of childish zeal is apparent in the way that the former approaches his batting. Although Tendulkar had been an aggressive batsman since the outset of his career, it was with Sehwag at the other end that he played some shots which were totally unlike his normal style of play.

Who can forget his upper cut over third man against Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup game against Pakistan which came during their blazing 50-run opening partnership.

During the All Stars game on Saturday, Sehwag started the fireworks for Tendulkar’s team with boundaries and maximums and this prompted the master batsman to step out and plonk one over the long on fence.

#5 The understanding that they share with each other

The good rapo

Ever since Sehwag’s century on Test debut, which he scored with his idol Tendulkar at the other end, these two Indian batting greats have shared an understanding which is unparalleled.

And this is not something which is restricted to the cricket field but beyond it as well. In a recent interview post his retirement, Sehwag revealed that he was looking to hang his boots way back in 2007 due to being dropped from the national side; however, it was on Tendulkar’s advice that he decided not to and got rich dividends for it later on.

There are also tales about how Viru watched the Indian legend’s back when some of the opposition players tried to sledge him. He did nothing but simply remind them about the great things done by the man whom they were trying to get after.

Also, Tendulkar accompanied Sehwag during many of his milestone innings and always kept giving him sound advice in order to keep his focus going. In times of struggle, Viru did not hesitate to approach his idol in order to sort issues with his batting.

This bonding that the two of them share that is one of the more primary reasons why Sachin enjoys his time in the middle with Sehwag at the other end.