Sehwag and New Zealand

Well yesterday, needless to be said, Virender Sehwag scored his latest hundred against New Zealand, a team against which Sehwag had not only scored his maiden ton of his international career in ODIs but also one of the top ten of the fastest hundred at that time. Sehwag's ton, at that time was second best only to Mohammed Azharuddin who had scored a 63 ball hundred against the same New Zealand way back in the early 90s. Virender Sehwag now has five out of his 12 hundreds against New Zealand in one dayers. This can once again prove Viru to be a perfect player for Kiwis.

Back in test match cricket, Virender Sehwag has three out of six double hundreds against Pakistan and that too three in a row in the three series' that were played between the countries between 2004-05 to 2006-07. Virender Sehwag was not a part of the squad of the Indian team that toured Pakistan in 2007 which would have otherwise seen him notch up yet another double century against Pakistan if at all history is to repeat itself. So, Sehwag can be considered as a rare Indian batsman who can silence the Pakistani players who were haunting the Indian side since the rivalry began.

Similar stories exist when V V S Laxman's test history against Australia is given a close look at with both his double hundreds pointing towards Australia. It doesn't matter that both the double hundreds of Laxman have come on home ground no matter that the Eden Gardens innings was an epic in Laxman's test cricket history. Otherwise also, Laxman has scores like 178, 167 and 148 against Australia in Australia. His performance against other teams has been less than satisfactory compared to the ones against Australia. So has been Laxman's hundreds in one dayers where he has four out of the six hundreds against Australia.

Similarly, Brian Lara has a special liking towards Australia and England when history suggests that he has two triple hundreds against England and two double hundreds against Australia though his team used to finish in the losing side. His performance against other teams is well above satisfactory which speaks for him. Lara has double hundreds against all teams except India and New Zealand. So, his liking towards one particular team can be restricted to only England considering the two triple hundreds he has scored against. Coming to Sehwag's issue, the tri series involving India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand always fascinates Sehwag.