Having plundered the West Indian attack to the tune of 219 in a One-day International a few days ago, Virender Sehwag or ‘Veru’ as he is affectionately known among his colleagues, is now a record-breaking batsman, leaving behind men like Sachin Tendulkar, Charles Coventry, Saeed Anwar, Viv Richards and Sanath Jayasuriya to name a few.

And many have now started to compare his prowess with the bat to the dexterity of Vivian Richards the ‘Master Blaster’ in his hey days. It is hard to compare, though, when it comes to hitting the ball with the full meat of the bat and despatching it to the fence or over it with perfect and pristine timing, as many have done it before Sehwag.

The difference, of course, is that Richards’ presence in the middle was always as threatening and dangerous as a tiger on the prowl, waiting in an ambush to whet his appetite, whereas Sehwag’s, I suppose, is not. If only he was as consistent and had an aura and confidence about him as the great West Indian, he would have had even a greater presence.

Sehwag is no less a figure, though, when it comes to wielding the willow. Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Jayasuriya, Adam Gilchrist and Shahid Afridi always come to mind while watching him bat.

Over the years, I have witnessed many a great Test and one-day innings. Of the 23 triple centuries scored in Tests, I have seen seven — two of them as spectator — one by Bobby Simpson (311) in 1964 and the other by John Edrich (310*) in 1965 against England and New Zealand respectively at Old Trafford and Headingley.

The rest of the five — by Graham Gooch, Mark Taylor, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Virender Sehwag and Younis Khan — I covered as a journalist. Viv Richards’ 189* at Old Trafford against England and Saeed Anwar’s 194 at Chennai in 1997-98 were as entertaining as any ODI innings that I have witnessed.

Having seen Sehwag over the years, I can assure you that he does not lag behind in any way and against any opposition. Whether pace or spin, on his day Sehwag is as devastating, decimating the bowling into smithereens. It is more so commendable for the fact that he does it while facing the new ball.

That reminds me of a televised live show during the Bangalore Test against Pakistan in 2004-05 in which I was one of the guests along with the then new Pakistan coach, Bob Woolmer.

In the beautiful setting of Bangalore University, the presenters were Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former Indian opener, and a beautiful young lady, Sonali Chandra who to my surprise introduced me in the show as the Sachin Tendulkar amongst the cricket writers.

I was flattered, but also embarrassed for the fact that if I had even half the talent as a writer as Tendulkar has with the bat, I would have been really proud of myself. Anyway, I must not digress from Sehwag.

Sidhu, in the live show, asked Woolmer what he thought of Sehwag. Woolmer shocked me and all by saying, “Sehwag is only an ‘unsophisticated slogger’,” a remark which obviously was not liked by the students present or the millions of Indian viewers.

Sonali then turned to me saying, “Let us ask the Pakistan expert.” Surprised as I was, I had to come to the defence of Sehwag, telling the crowd that “in my experience sloggers do not make too many hundreds and Sehwag has already scored 12, opening the batting. He bats with a straight face of the willow and carves the field with as much authority as Tendulkar,Dravid or Miandad would, taking on the challenge of any champion bowler whether quick or slow”.

Woolmer may not have liked my comments but the crowd certainly did. Sehwag scored 201 the very next day in the Test against Pakistan.

The man, of course, is a genius, no doubt about it. Ravi Shastri, writing about him in the bible of the game, the Wisden’s edition in 2009, remarked: “It would be a folly to view Sehwag as no more than a rampaging bull in a cricketing arena. He is a marvel of modern times, a genius who has confounded conventional wisdom, whose daring is now a part of cricket’s folklore.”

Not too far from the truth, if you like the way he bats to entertain us all.