Australia's indispensable run machine

No two batsmen playing today are more different in outlook than Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Virender Sehwag. If there were a scale that ranked batsmen from most restrained at one end to most forceful at the other, then those two would be placed at either end of the spectrum.

The West Indian with the strange stance is as stodgy as they come.More a prodder, a tapper, a deflector, than full-throated shot-maker,Chanderpaul has been, for years, possibly the games most difficult batsman to dislodge. The left-hander, it appears, views every delivery with suspicion. Its as if he feels each ball is some kind of explosive to be diffused, and so he ensures the danger is neutralized before any scoring opportunities are explored.

Not that he is strokeless. This maker of a 69-ball Test hundred,the fourth fastest in history, is as capable as anyone of dominating the bowling when the mood moves him, but his first and main focus is occupation of the crease, and this approach has borne him much reward.

On the opposite end of the scale is Virender Sehwag. The former Indian opener was the games most assertive Test batsman for years.Quite unlike Chanderpaul, Sehwag's first consideration is attack. Defence is only deliberated when he sees little opportunity for attack. And even then he might decide to attack anyway. What CLR James said of Wilton St. Hill, the highly rated Trinidadian batsman of the early 1900s, applies perfectly to Sehwag: When he was on the go it was the bowler who needed defence, not he.
In 153 matches, Chanderpaul has 11219 runs at an average of 51.93and a strike rate of 43.3, while the Indian opener has 8503 runs from 103 matches at an average of 49.83 and a staggering 82.17 strike rate. To put this into perspective it should be noted that had he faced the same number of deliveries as Chanderpaul and maintained the same scoring rate, he would have made 21,286 runs.

Both Chanderpaul and Sehwag have achieved sizeable success by vastly contrasting means. It is something of a curiosity then that David Warner, currently on a run-scoring spree for Australia, credits both men as having played important roles in his development as a Test cricketer.

The Australian opener took a rather circuitous route to crickets longest form, in that he played T20 for his country before playing a single first-class game. Warner recalls a conversation with Sehwag during which the Indian batsman, much to his astonishment, said,you'll be a much better Test cricketer than you are a T20player. Sehwag went on to explain, "All the fielders are around the bat. If the ball is there in your zone, you're still going to hit it. You're going to have ample opportunities to score runs.You've always got to respect the good ball, but you've got to punish the ball you always punish." The Australian took Sehwag's words to heart, and was able to make his Test debut approximately two years later.

If Sehwag gave him self-belief, Warner credits Chanderpaul with instilling in him the art of spending long periods in the middle. After expressing his amazement at the Guyanese batsman spending six hours with the bowling machine while they were together at Durham, Chanderpaul responded, if you're going to bat for six hours in a game, you might as well practice it. Warner's appreciation of the value of spending time at the crease grew, though he steered clear of Chanderpaul's style of batting.

It was Sehwag who was more Warner's spiritual kin. Both are similar in outlook, and like Sehwag before him, Warner has had to endure much skepticism due to his forthrightness as a Test batsman. Purists scoff at the thought of Test batsmen, and openers in particular, going hell for leather from their first moment in the middle. The doubters (and I was one) should now all have been silenced by the sheer weight of his run scoring, but many were convinced in the beginning that he couldn't last.

Even after he had two Test hundreds to his name, one highly respected commentator pronounced during the 2011-12 visit to the West Indies, that he didn't see a Test Match opener in the pugnacious left-hander. I agreed. At the time he seemed in a hurry to throw away his wicket by attempting the big shot, and though he retains his boundless shot-making ability, he now plays more within his zone as Sehwag advised.

From an inconsistent shot-maker, Warner has grown into an almost indispensable lynchpin of the Australian Test team. These have been his run of scores for the recent Ashes series and the South African tour: 49, 124, 29, 83*, 60, 112, 9, 25, 16, 16, 12, 115, 70, 66, 135,145. And as important as the volume of runs is the rapid rate at which he makes them. Getting Warner early has now got to be the most urgent concern of Australia's opponents.

Five centuries and four half-centuries in sixteen innings is a ratio that would please even Bradman, and Australia undoubtedly wishes for his purple patch to continue for a long time. Sehwag and Chanderpaul must be proud