Virender Sehwag hit the fastest 250 ever and along with Rahul Dravid took India over the 400-run mark on the second day of the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai.
The historic Brabourne Stadium has witnessed one of the most destructive batting performances ever seen in Test cricket. Virender Sehwag blasted 284 runs off just 239 balls to take India’s total to 443 runs off 79 overs.
Sehwag achieved the milestone off 207 balls after becoming the first Indian to hit six double centuries.
Sehwag smashed his sixth double century off 168 balls,which is also the second fastest double century, as India looked towards making a big first innings score. Sehwag’s knock is the 38th double hundred by an Indian. Dravid has five double centuries to his credit while Sunil Gavsakar and Sachin Tendulkar have hit four each.
Openers Sehwag and Murali Vijay (87) set the tone of the innings by giving a promising start with their 221-run first wicket stand. The duo quickly raced on to score 93 by the lunch break and accelerated the scoring in the second session by adding another 138 runs.
Sehwag got to his 6,000 Test runs in style by hitting left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for a big six over the bowler’s head. He also became the third fastest Indian after Tendulkar and Gavaskar to score 6,000 runs in Test cricket. Gavaskar achieved the mark in 117 innings, Tendulkar in 120 and Sehwag took 123 innings.
The home team now unbelievably leads by 50 runs despite Sri Lanka scoring 393 in their first essay. It is also their new record for most runs scored in a day, bettering their previous best of 417 scored at Kanpur last week. Sehwag smashed 40 boundaries and seven sixes to finish within touching distance of his third triple ton. The Mumbai crowd could not have asked for anything better. The Lankan spinners had an embarrassing day with both Muralidaran and Herath conceding over 100 runs in a single day
