Virender Sehwag : A revolution

The way he started he started his career, he was dubbed as the next Tendulkar. I still remember the Bloemfontein, career your debut against proteas. And when Sourav Ganguly departed at 68 there was a magic at 22 yards two identical sachin that was the 1st impression you had on me. Your stance. that same back-foot punch on off side, the wristy whip to the leg and scoring that magical straight drive, sachin's signature was all over it. It was like somebody doing His impression in front of him and with supreme authority and authenticity. Even Sachin would be wondering on his mirror self shots. Had you come after his retirement than surely he would have made the same comment to his wife as what Sir Donald Bradman did to his,"Now I never saw myself play, but I felt that this player is playing with a style similar to mine".
But this was a start to an astonishing career. You redefined the whole concept of opening in tests, rather seeing off the 1st hour against new ball, you took the leather off that cherry. It was just matter of time that people started looking into you and started criticizing you technique. Everyone went on air to say that its matter of time for you to fail. But 12 years, 104 tests, 251 ODIs, 19 T20Is 17000+ international runs and 136 wickets what more could we have asked and if thats failure I am happy that you failed. You proved every critic wrong with the span of your career. You revolutionized the opening slot in the test cricket. Rather than those old school openers with the SR below 40, your blade was firing with 82 per 100 balls. There was always a terror in bowlers while delivering against