Sehwag emerges from Tendulkar's shadow

They are both short, stocky, round-faced, curly-haired, clean-shaven and are often seen in official India shirts. All their shots are almost identical.

As if being punished by one was not enough, now bowlers also have to contend with "Sachin Tendulkar Mark II".

But the 23-year-old Virender Sehwag, who helped India to reach the Champions Trophy final which ended in a washed-out draw with Sri Lanka on Monday, is more than an impersonator.

His explosive strokes and kamikaze approach have captured the imagination and hearts of cricket-crazy India. Cricket pundits say that, like his childhood hero Tendulkar, he will go far.

Away from the pitch, however, the two men are as different as chalk and cheese.

Tendulkar is earnest and suave but chooses to keep away from public life. Sehwag is earthy and naughty but very shy.

They come from totally different backgrounds. Tendulkar, raised in a cricket hotbed in Bombay's Bandra locality, came into prominence early after a successful stint in school matches.

He made Bombay's domestic team when he was barely in his teens, got a test debut at 16 and never looked back.

For Sehwag, the son of a contractor in a flour mill, the journey to fame was not so smooth.

STREET GAMES

A cricket fanatic ever since he was a child, Sehwag's heroics as a youngster were limited to street matches in his native Najafgarh, a Delhi suburb.

It was only after his matriculation exams that the 15-year-old Sehwag could take up the game seriously, playing for his school and then making his way into the Delhi under-19 team.

"He used to travel by bus for over two hours from Najafgarh to the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium," his brother Vinod told Reuters.

"Those were tough times for him but our family started believing he was a special player. Still we never seriously thought he would play for India."

Sehwag broke into the Delhi senior team in 1998 and, after explosive centuries against Haryana and Punjab, earned his first two-wheeler and his first one-day cap.

But he did not take to international cricket easily.

The debut against Pakistan at Mohali in 1999 was a disaster. Sehwag scored one run and was hammered for 35 in three overs.

He had to wait two years for another opportunity. In Bangalore against Australia, the now 22-year-old Sehwag was better prepared.

He struck 58 and took three wickets with his occasional off-spin to set up a thrilling win.

OPENING ROLE

But his coming-out match was when captain Saurav Ganguly, playing without the injured Tendulkar in a triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka, asked Sehwag to open.

India needed a big win against New Zealand to qualify for the final but the Kiwis piled up nearly 300 on a slow wicket at the Sinhalese Sports Complex and things looked ominous.

That was before Sehwag walked in to bat.

Looking uncannily like Tendulkar, Sehwag hammered pacemen Daryl Tuffy and Jacob Oram to all corners of the park.

He cracked seven consecutive fours at one stage and raced to a match-winning, 69-ball hundred, the seventh fastest in history.

"Viru has arrived," Ganguly said after that game. He was right.

A century in his debut test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, another against England at Trent Bridge and a blazing 126 at the Champions Trophy in Colombo last month are now part of the ever-increasing Sehwag folklore.

He now drives an expensive luxury sedan. From being "Poor Man's Tendulkar" and "Najafgarh's Tendulkar", he has become a national hero in his own right.

Sehwag still has a long way to go before he can match Tendulkar, who has 30 Test centuries and world records for both runs and centuries in one-day cricket.

But, for the present, just ask any bowler whom he would rather bowl to -- Sehwag or Tendulkar? He may be loath to choose.

Mail Cricket Editor