On this day, 20 years ago, Virender Sehwag announced his arrival in red-ball cricket by smashing a hundred in his debut Test. Sehwag had already become a force to reckon with when he earned his Test call for India during their tour of South Africa in 2001. Team India was slated to play three-match Test series against the Proteas team. However, Sehwag did not have to wait long for his debut cap as he was named in India’s playing XI by Sourav Ganguly in the very first match of the series in Bloemfontein.
After winning the toss, then South Africa skipper Shaun Pollock invited the Sourav Ganguly-led outfit to bat first. Team India’s start in the match was not great as they lost four early wickets in form of – Shiv Sunder Das (9 runs off 50 balls), Rahul Dravid (2 runs off 10 balls), VVS Laxman (30 runs off 32 balls) and Sourav Ganguly (14 runs off 18 balls) – and were left reeling at 68/4 in 20.3 overs.
Batting at number six, Sehwag joined India’s batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar (155 runs off 154 balls) intending to stabilise their innings and take his side to a respectable total. In his very first game in the red-ball cricket, Sehwag snitched an important 220-run stand with Tendulkar and in the process helped India to a respectable total.
Makhaya Ntini broke Sehwag and Tendulkar’s partnership by removing the latter from the attack and soon the debutant followed suit.
Sehwag scored 105 runs off 173 balls and it was studded with 19 magnificent boundaries. India posted a respectable total of 379 runs in their first innings. In reply, South Africa scored 563 runs for the loss of ten wickets, taking 184 runs lead in the process.
India’s performance in the second innings of the match was even more dismal as they were bowled out for 237 runs.
Chasing a meagre 54 runs for a win in the fourth innings, South Africa went on to win the match by nine wickets.
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