The Australian media was singing the 'Sehwag' song on Saturday as major newspapers were full of stories of how a "bruised but emboldened" Virender Sehwag made the opening day of the third cricket Test in Melbourne "a day of carnage" for the hosts.
Sehwag was hailed as "part Houdini, part Superman" for his extraordinary 195-run innings and referred to as a "batsman of rare courage and inspiration".
The contrast between Sehwag's belligerence and Sachin Tendulkar's loss of form was also highlighted with one of papers declaring: "after yesterday's golden duck it is official that the world's best batsman is facing the worst of times".
"Sehwag defies all logic", said the headline of noted cricket writer Peter Roebuck's column in the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
"Here was a tale of a brilliant batsman riding his luck to play the innings of his life and another about a master upon whose career fortune is frowning...
"India rose to the occasion with a brilliant and courageous performance. Bumpers were defied and bangs on the head ignored.
"Sehwag led the way with an innings as memorable as any played on this ground in a quarter of a century. He is a batsman of rare courage and inspiration who responds to voices unheard elsewhere."
"At the crease he has a gleam in his eye suggesting that reason plays but a small part in his approach. His batting was a mixture of physical courage and extraordinary strokeplay. He set about the bowling with a range of shots that had their origins not in a coaching manual but in the depths of his own imagination. He played shots of eye, nerve and power," wrote Roebuck.
Sehwag's 195 was the highest score by an Indian at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
India's was the highest first-day tally by a touring team at the MCG and the highest first-day score against a team led by Steve Waugh in any of his 56 Tests as captain. In the space of two Tests, Rahul Dravid and Sehwag have made two of the top three scores by Indians in Australia.
Writing in 'The Herald', Trevor Marshallsea said India's batting line-up was supposed to resemble a mango -- soft on the top and bottom, extremely tough in the middle.
"Everyone knew the tourists had a match-winning middle order, it was their openers who were said to be suspect. Not only have (Akash) Chopra and Sehwag defied all forecasts by repeatedly giving their side a solid start, but yesterday they took it much further, confronting the Australians on their biggest Test day of the year with a superb stand of 141".
India's previous such stand was the 191-run contribution of Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the third match of the 1985-86 series.
Australia's only national newspaper, 'The Australian' said, "mixing courage with his boundless talents, Sehwag overcame two blows on the helmet then rode the energy of a record crowd against India (62,213) to smote 195. In a joyful innings of uninhibited stroke play, Sehwag scored his first century against Australia."
Under the heading "Mind over Matter" Robert Craddock wrote that no matter what fate awaited Sourav Ganguly's Indian side, it had provided rival teams with a blueprint of how to beat the world champions.
