Sehwag hits remarkable double ton to bury Sri Lanka

(GETTY IMAGES)

Virender Sehwag once said that he felt for bowlers who had to face him at his fluent peak. You can only assume, then, that yesterday evening the Indian batsman's heart bled for Muttiah Muralitharan, among others, after he struck 284 not out, the second fastest Test double century in history, to leave Sri Lanka in deep trouble at the end of the second day of this third Test in Mumbai.

Muralitharan suffered the most. Test cricket's greatest-ever wicket-taker went for 78 runs off the 70 deliveries he bowled to Sehwag, who will awake this morning eyeing his third triple century in Tests – no other batsman has ever managed that. India closed on 443 for one, having dismissed Sri Lanka for 393.

Sehwag, out for 131 in the preceding Kanpur Test, hit 40 boundaries and seven sixes in 239 deliveries and claimed that his annoyance at not reaching that double century fuelled yesterday's efforts. "I missed out on a double in Kanpur and I wanted to make amends," he said. "I wanted to make sure I didn't miss out and I batted the best way I thought was possible.

"I was cautious at the start because I did not want to give the opposition any chances as I had done in the two previous matches. I thought I would bide my time, see off the new ball and then take my chances." And how.

India, who lead the series 1-0, have faced just 79 overs but they have already established a 50-run lead, for which they can thank, in no small part, Sehwag's total destruction of Muralitharan. "I thought rather than let him dominate, I would attack him from the start," said Sehwag. "I wanted to keep him on the back foot."

Most Test runs in a day: Top five scores

D G Bradman (Australia) v England, Headingley, July 1930 393

W R Hammond (Eng) v N Zealand, Auckland, March 1933 295

V Sehwag (India) v Sri Lanka, Mumbai, December 2009 284

D C S Compton (Eng) v Pakistan, Trent Bridge, July 1954 273

D G Bradman (Australia) v England, Headingley, July 1934 271