Delhi Test, Day 3, Lunch
Saturday, March 2, 2002

Though curtailed by drizzle and bad light, this was a fascinating little session of Test cricket. Because of India's poor batting yesterday, Zimbabwe came out this morning with much to look forward to. That was when Virender Sehwag decided to have his say.

I must confess that I'm becoming a Sehwag fan. At this early stage of his career, he is clearly not too affected by the situation or any pressure there may be on the team. He just goes out and plays his natural game, scoring runs at a fair clip. Against an inexperienced team like Zimbabwe, he has the ability to wrest the psychological advantage very quickly, and to an extent, he has done that. The poor light and conditions haven't helped but Sehwag has already shown that he is a key player for India coming in to bat at No. 6.

Ganguly's innings would have done him the world of good. When he came out to bat yesterday afternoon, the bowlers went after him with some short-pitched stuff. But after he got to 20 or so, the focus was always on the batsmen at the other end. Yesterday, it was Tendulkar who played that uncharacteristically muted innings. Today, with Sehwag taking charge, the Zimbabwe captain and fielders were concentrating most of their energies on him.

With the spotlight off him, Ganguly flourished and he has played very responsibly so far with his team still in a spot of bother.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the early 1990s, was talking to Dileep Premachandran.

More Sanjay Manjrekar
Day 2, Close: 'Why so defensive, Sachin?'

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