5 Instances when explosive batsmen played cautious knocks

3. Virender Sehwag- 35 off 59 against Australia, 2004

Virender Sehwag doesn’t prefer to complicate his game much. He doesn’t mind taking the attack to the opposition from ball one. But back in 2004, he played a knock against Australia in Melbourne that cost India the match by 18 runs. At the MCG, Sehwag scored 35 off 59 balls when the Men in Blue were chasing 289.

His cautious approach meant that pressure was built on the other batsmen. Though he hit three fours, he was unable to get the ball away. In the end, Ian Harvey castled him to cut short his stay.

It also broke the 103-run stand for the opening wicket between batsmen Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. Needless to say, that the Master Blaster was the more attacking off the two, scoring 53 out of the 85 runs off the bat. Overall, Sehwag played at a strike-rate of 104.33 in ODIs.