David Leggat: Sehwag's 219 blurs boundaries of cricket

Sachin Tendulkar. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Sachin Tendulkar breezed into Melbourne with some of his Indian teammates this week.

Shortly after, and around the other side of the cricket world, one of his chums dismantled one of Tendulkar's collection of world records.

In February last year, Tendulkar took South Africa's attack apart in scoring an unbeaten 200 at Gwalior.

No one had reached that mark in an ODI before. It seemed likely to last some time.

Instead Virender Sehwag grabbed it for himself on the postage stamp ground at Indore, clubbing 219 off the West Indies in only 149 balls.

Altogether 142 of his runs came in boundaries, including seven sixes.

"Whenever I hit the ball into the gaps it would go for four. Whenever I decided to hit a six I would hit with a straight bat and it would go for six," Sehwag reflected, sounding ever so slightly a show-off. If ever words sounded as if accompanied by a smirk, those would be them.

Sehwag is one of those batsmen who redefines the way cricket has come to be played.

Be an opener with breezy intentions in the short forms by all means. In fact, it is almost mandatory.

But Sehwag plays the same in the five-day matches. He can be erratic, but when he's on, no attack is safe.

And his display is another example of the way cricket's batting limits are being expanded.

Remember the days in the early 1980s, when beige was the rage. New Zealand would be in Australia and totals of 220-odd would play 210 or so. Look at the runs per balls ratio during the 1992 World Cup, when Mark Greatbatch, Rod Latham and co were thrilling the crowds at Eden Park and elsewhere.

If those numbers were put up now, no one would blink. Run-a-ball, or even slightly below that? Big deal.

When Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile record in 1954 it was an athletic landmark. Now it's well below 3min 50s.

Usain Bolt's world 100m record stands at 9.58s. How low can it go? There will be a point at which it is humanly impossible. Covering the ground in, say, 5.4s is impossible.

Sehwag's mark, by contrast, will be beaten one day, and still has plenty of room to move.

Bigger bats, smaller grounds, flat pitches are all factors in the changing face of the ODI game.

Spectators want to see big scores, not games on green tops where they're heading for the gates three hours early.

India scored 418 for five against the West Indies, the equal fifth highest ODI total, although it climbs to third best if games involving the relative lightweight Netherlands and Zimbabwe are deleted.

The batting records are not restricted to certain nationalities either. The next five highest ODI scores after Sehwag and Tendulkar belong to a Zimbabwean, a Pakistani, a West Indian, a Sri Lankan and a South African.

Speaking of Tendulkar, there is growing excitement on this side of the Tasman at the prospect of his 100th international century on Australian soil, starting at Melbourne in the first test on Boxing Day.

He has been sitting on 99 hundreds - 51 in tests, 48 in ODIs for 11 matches - for 18 innings.

Melbourne, the self-styled sporting capital of Australia, gets first dibs. Tendulkar is 38, it will come, but time is not his friend these days.

Whether he can put Sehwag back in his place in the ODI game is another story.