On this day 16 years ago, Virender Sehwag becomes 'Multan ka Sultan' after his maiden triple hundred
531 minutes on field, faced 375 balls, hit 39 fours and smashed 6 sixes. All these stats comprises of one the greatest innings played by an Indian and least not forgetting the fact, it was against arch-rivals Pakistan. On this day back in 2004, Virender Sehwag became the first Indian to score a triple Test century, blasting 309 runs in Multan, Pakistan. Sehwag was a destructive batsman and has left his mark wherever he set foot and the former Team India opener was not shy of facing the deadliest of bowlers during his time.
It was 16 years from today i.e March 29 when India toured Pakistan. The intensity between the two rivals was already profound and it was opener Sehwag who planned on making it big. In the first innings of the Test match at Multan, Sehwag and Aakash Chopra opened for Rahul Dravid led Team India and boy oh boy!, once Sehwag got going, the opener did not stop as he went on to smash history. He hammered 39 fours and 6 sixes in his innings as he went on to make his triple ton.
Despite facing an attacking unit which comprised of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Abdul Razzaq, Sehwag stood tall in Multan as he hammered the hosts away. Sehwag's historic innings came to an end after he was caught out by Taufeeq Umar on Sami's delivery.
However, the bashing did not stop after Sehwag's departure. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was on a different roll as he added his 194*and fell six runs short of his double ton. Tendulkar troubled the bowlers with his classy innings as he hammered 21 fours in the 348 balls he faced.
India went on to post a mammoth total of 675/5 and declared. They defeated Pakitan by an innings and 52 runs as the hosts made 407 & 216. Despite Mohammud Yousuf's ton, India knew they had the match in their hands after Sehwag's heroics.
Sehwag's legendary triple ton is not only historic, but also a bar for the upcoming batsman in the future as the destructive and explosive batsman scripted a different chapter in the history of Indian cricket.
Apart from the 'Fab Four' who comprised of Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, the Sultan established a different league of his own as he was recognised as a match-winner with his smashing knocks and will always go down as the player who changed the course of batting in Test cricket. Playing with the red ball has seen the greats play defensively, but bowlers knew, that whenever Sehwag comes on to bat, the outcome of the match will change.
