There's something about Virender Sehwag that sets him apart from other Indian batsmen. He bats with rustic simplicity at times, and with genuine finesse at others. But what marks him out is a shockproof temperament. The lad who grew up idolising Sachin Tendulkar is eerily similar to him in that respect. Tendulkar, in his early years, was no respecter of reputations. If the ball was there to be hit, he gave it a real wallop. It didn't matter to him who the bowlers were. Waqar Younis could have been a pie-thrower and Merv Hughes the neighbourhood bully for all the respect they got from Tendulkar. There was a reckless edge to his batting then, which you can glimpse with Sehwag now.

There's nothing edgy about the strokes that Sehwag can play though. As Ray Price and Heath Streak discovered this morning, the local lad pulls no punches. A scorching straight-drive off Price and some handsome flays through the off side encapsulated the morning's entertainment.

It also brought into focus Sehwag's refreshingly positive attitude towards the art of runmaking. For too long, we have seen Indian batsmen play with one eye on the averages column and the other on their place in the team. If anything, Sehwag is one batsman who could be excused if he adopted such a selfish approach. There was the missed Test match at Mohali, courtesy of Mike Denness, and also a missed opportunity at Nagpur after the selectors elected to ignore his brilliant but chancy 66 against England at Bangalore.

Back in the team, with yesterday's hero VVS Laxman tending the drinks, he could have played the percentages in order to cement his place. After all, on a pitch where the great Tendulkar slows to a crawl, who would expect Sehwag to come out guns blazing in Wild West fashion?

But Indian cricket's Billy the Kid did just that. He faced one delivery fewer than Tendulkar (118), but made over twice the runs (74 to 36). On a snail-paced track where none of the other batsmen looked at ease, he sauntered along at four an over. At Bangalore three months ago, a British journalist raved to me about his strokeplay while insisting that he could never hack it in seaming conditions abroad. He might be in for a nasty shock come this summer, because this kid won't go quietly.

Have feet, will travel has always been the state of mind for the nomads of this world. Sehwag's cricket is as uncomplicated - have bat, will pound the bowlers being the hidden message.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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