Same style but different class

These men give strike rates their identity. Both score at about 70 runs per 100 balls in Test cricket but it is one-dayers that there strike rates are truly sparkling. Sehwag after 107 matches has a strike rate of 94 while Afridi after almost 199 games enjoys a strike rate of 105 — more than anyone who has played more than 50 games.

In the Bangalore Test, Sehwag got a double century, Afridi a quarter of it. But both were captivating. ‘‘Sehwag likes to stay at the wicket, I can’t do that. I believe in attacking every ball. This is the only way I play because this is the way I learnt my cricket,” Afridi says.

Adding the number of one-dayers that he has played as another reason for his attacking style.‘‘If I had got the number of chances Sehwag has got I would have been a different player too,’’ Afridi adds.

‘‘I didn’t know what my role in the team was for so many years,’’ he adds. Yet Afridi refuses to admit that Sehwag is the most exciting batsman in world cricket today.

‘‘Adam Gilchrist,’’ he says, ‘‘is the most exciting batsman in the world, then Sehwag. And lets not call him the world’s best yet because he has to still prove himself,’’ says Afridi.

Yet ask him what will be the difference between his team and a victory at Bangalore and he says, ‘Sehwag’. ‘‘If we can get him out early, we can make a match out of it,’’ he says. When he walked out to bat today, his coach told him to just stay at the wicket for the first four-five overs and then explode.

It was a valiant but futile piece of advice. The Pakistan fifty was up in the seventh over of the innings and at the end of ten overs, Pakistan was 77-0. Minutes later he had — with seven fours and two sixes — registered the fastest Test fifty by a Pakistani.

‘‘Hitting the ball is the most important thing for me. I decided to attack the ball because I am playing as an opener in Test cricket after a long time. So I thought I should attack the new ball before it finds my edge,’’ he says. And playing against India is the most exciting prospect for him. ‘‘There is so much pressure against India that I love it. If you perform against India, you are recognised back home. It shows you are tough,’’ he adds.

‘‘I enjoyed the 141 I scored against India because we won that game, if we win this game tomorrow, then I will treasure this 58 as well. Scores matter to me if they win the team games,’’ he says adding that he did not know he had scored the fastest Test fifty for Pakistan until now.