For a lot of the world, Virender Sehwag is an object more than a person. He was a football with a name in the Denness Affair, and now he is a Sachin Tendulkar clone. In reality, he is a no-nonsense batsman appropriately described by Mike Brearley as "brashly talented". He is a belter with a simple heart and a simple mind. He is steadily exciting the nation like not even Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid did upon their arrival. His batting calls for a song and a dance, not a poetic muse. "If it's a good ball, block it, otherwise hit it," Sehwag revealed as his strategy for his rapid 82 at Kanpur. Only Shahid Afridi makes batting look less complicated, but he doesn't merit comparisons with Tendulkar.

The physical resemblance between Tendulkar and Sehwag is striking. They are innocent in the face and unimposing in stature. Even the figures stack up well. Tendulkar averaged 28.52 after 26 one-dayers, Sehwag is on 29.80 at the moment. Tendulkar averaged 64.77 in his first Ranji season, Sehwag 62.08. Tendulkar's fastest hundred has come in 71 balls, Sehwag has done it in 69.

And there's more. The whip of the hips can be differentiated only on close inspection of the face of the bat – red "MRF" for Tendulkar and white-on-red "Britannia" for Sehwag. There's not much in it on the straight-drive either, though Tendulkar goes more often towards the on, and sometimes stifles the follow-through, while Sehwag lets himself unwind youthfully. Tendulkar is more upright, less impetuous and with no perceptible weakness; Sehwag's batsmanship is so bubbling over with life that he is dangerous to himself. Basically, Tendulkar was prodigious where Sehwag is, well, brashly talented.

What Sehwag has shown, though, is that he isn't just the flat-track, easy-meat bully that many expected him to be. With a hefty reputation behind him, he was picked as a 21-year-old against Pakistan in early 1999. He scored 1, and went for 35 in three overs. Two seasons later, he came back. There was a fifty under lights against Australia that could be dismissed as streaky. It was followed by a string of failures. And then an atom-bomb century opening the batting in Sri Lanka. But boys had done cooler things: Afridi, all of 16 years and 217 days, had a century in 37 balls in his maiden innings.

At Bloemfontein in November 2001, Sehwag became a man. While Tendulkar crafted and innovated a masterpiece, Sehwag made an undaunted 105 on Test debut. Bounce didn't perturb him, 68 for 4 didn't unnerve him, Shaun Pollock didn't fluster him, a play-and-miss didn't bother him, and he played far more than he missed anyway. A month later, at Bangalore against England, he missed more than he played, but briefly and magnificently put Ashley Giles's six-feet-outside-leg-stump line in its place, which even Tendulkar couldn't.

India can be pleased they've found a star. But there should be a silent prayer on everyone's lips that he doesn't burn out, fade away, lose his way, or any such nonsense.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer for Wisden.com in India.

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