AHMEDABAD (TIP): Can we now officially label Motera as Virender Sehwag’s happy hunting ground? The last time he came out to bat here, he scored 173 in a day against New Zealand, in November 2010-11. After that hundred, two years and 30 innings went by without Viru getting another three-figure knock. But on Thursday, Sehwag made his innings against England at the Motera a special one. “A hundred in the first innings of the first Test, opening the innings, is always special. It came at the right time,” Sehwag said. But it was a different Sehwag out there. Of course, there were those trademark Sehwag blows, but he was not flashy just for the sake of it. He was patient, watchful and also showed some respect to the bowlers whenever they deserved it.AHMEDABAD (TIP): Can we now officially label Motera as Virender Sehwag’s happy hunting ground? The last time he came out to bat here, he scored 173 in a day against New Zealand, in November 2010-11. After that hundred, two years and 30 innings went by without Viru getting another three-figure knock. But on Thursday, Sehwag made his innings against England at the Motera a special one. “A hundred in the first innings of the first Test, opening the innings, is always special. It came at the right time,” Sehwag said. But it was a different Sehwag out there. Of course, there were those trademark Sehwag blows, but he was not flashy just for the sake of it. He was patient, watchful and also showed some respect to the bowlers whenever they deserved it.

He scored as rapidly as he usually does — getting to 50 off 45 balls and 100 off 90 balls — but he also missed Kapil Dev’s record of reaching the three-figure mark in 86 deliveries at Kanpur in 1981-82 and Mohd Azharuddin’s 87-ball ton at Lord’s in 1990. He showed some desperation only when he was on 98, as umpire Tony Hill signalled leg-bye to a run that Sehwag thought came off the bat. He went from 98 to 99 with a tap to cover and made a desperate dash to complete the single. But immediately, he returned to his monkish frame of mind. Sehwag made Swann wait on his mark, took a deep breath, swept the popping crease with his feet, walked gently to square-leg dragging his bat and took guard. He then lofted Swann over mid-on for a boundary to reach the three-figure mark.

“I have to thank DJ (Team India‘s video analyst Dhananjay). He showed me the videos of the last 10 matches and whenever I have played 10 overs quietly, I have managed to score a big hundred. We were watching videos last night till 11 pm. I realised I have to play the new ball cautiously,” he said.He scored as rapidly as he usually does — getting to 50 off 45 balls and 100 off 90 balls — but he also missed Kapil Dev’s record of reaching the three-figure mark in 86 deliveries at Kanpur in 1981-82 and Mohd Azharuddin’s 87-ball ton at Lord’s in 1990. He showed some desperation only when he was on 98, as umpire Tony Hill signalled leg-bye to a run that Sehwag thought came off the bat. He went from 98 to 99 with a tap to cover and made a desperate dash to complete the single. But immediately, he returned to his monkish frame of mind. Sehwag made Swann wait on his mark, took a deep breath, swept the popping crease with his feet, walked gently to square-leg dragging his bat and took guard. He then lofted Swann over mid-on for a boundary to reach the three-figure mark. “I have to thank DJ (Team India’s video analyst Dhananjay). He showed me the videos of the last 10 matches and whenever I have played 10 overs quietly, I have managed to score a big hundred. We were watching videos last night till 11 pm. I realised I have to play the new ball cautiously,” he said.