It was on a rather eventful day at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo during 2001 that Virender Sehwag gave us the first real indication that he would be such an explosive opener in limited overs cricket.
The league stage of the Coca-Cola triangular ODI competition had reached a climactic phase, and the Indians were in the middle of a death or glory game against the Kiwis.
A victory would take them to the final of the tournament, where Sourav Ganguly's men would meet Sri Lanka in the summit clash. There was a lot at stake.
Sehwag swung the contest India's way, ruthlessly dismissing the ball to the distant corners of the ground, bringing up his maiden ODI hundred, a rollicking effort. The Kiwis were simply blown away by this gale storm from Delhi.
The situation was similar as the cricket caravan moved to Hyderabad for the final league match of the TVS tri-series competition. Once again, there was a lot revolving around this game. It was a must-win situation for India.
Well, the ghosts of the past returned to haunt the Kiwis at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium, probably hosting its last international contest.
Sehwag was under some pressure going into the match, following a lacklustre series until that point. However, he did spend time in the middle during the game in Bangalore against Australia, and the chances were that he would return to form sooner than later.
He did just that in Hyderabad, even if he lived a touch dangerously at the start. Importantly, Sehwag went after Tuffey, cutting and driving the Kiwi spearhead, and knocking him out of the attack.
He might have had his share of luck too when Lou Vincent put down a difficult catch at point with Sehwag on 26, but made the most of it, batting with freedom and enterprise, and picking up the gaps more often than not.
The opening stand between Tendulkar and Sehwag raised an entertaining 182 off an equal number of balls, and then Sehwag and the skipper put on 74 for the second wicket in just 64 balls.
When Sehwag was finally dismissed trying to clear the ground off seamer Scott Styris, he had already made 130 off 134 balls, and lasted at the crease till the Indian score was 283.
Qualitatively, Tendulkar's effort was better, while Dravid produced a classy innings, but what might have won Sehwag the Man of the Match award was the fact that he stayed in the middle till the conclusive stages, enabling India consolidate.
There is something about Sehwag, the Kiwis, and the knock-out league game of a triangular series!
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