The Story
Former India opener Virender Sehwag was rising the nostalgia wave today and recalled one of his most underwhelming achievements as a Test cricketer.
In Test cricket, registering a duck – the score of zero – is embarrassing, without any doubt. It becomes more uncomfortable to digest a golden duck – a first ball dismissal. However, the matter becomes horrible when you end notching up scores of zero in consecutive innings of a Test match – a rare phenomenon which is famously called as the “King’s pair”!
Sehwag faced this situation once in his career, exactly today, six years ago in England.
Here’s what he Tweeted:
#OnThisDay 6 years ago, I honoured Aryabhatta unwillingly by scoring a king pair in Birmingham. Full on. Kachha Limbu waali feeling”
#OnThisDay 6 years ago, I honoured Aryabhatta unwillingly by scoring a king pair in Birmingham. Full on
Kachha Limbu waali feeling 🙂 pic.twitter.com/HEPrhv1vhE— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 12, 2017
His honesty was laudable considering the fact that many individuals often try to hide such dismal facts.
A horrible Match for the Entire Team
It wasn’t Sehwag who failed miserably in the match, the entire team, led by MS Dhoni, was subjected to humiliation on the fateful day when India played hosts England at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
After winning the toss, England let India bat first on a seaming wicket. As expected, the batting side had a tough time dealing with fast bowling attack comprising of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan.
The trio did a fantastic job and bundling out India for just 224 runs with the Broad and Bresnan snapping four wickets each while Anderson chipping in with two wickets.
England, in response, piled on 710/7 with the help of a massive double century from skipper Alastair Cook. It could have been a triple ton had the left-hander managed to go overcome his nerves and add the all-important six runs to his eventual marathon tally of 294.
Eoin Morgan was the other centurion with the score of 104 while opener Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Tom Bresnan registering fifties.
India could not showcase any special resilience in the following innings as well and were routed for just 244 runs. As a result, England smoothly picked up a victory by an innings and 242 runs. Sehwag, the opener, was dismissed golden duck in both the innings.