Sehwag refers to Gambhir as 'India's second wall'

ndia’s stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag has referred to his fellow opener and teammate Gautam Gambhir as India’s second wall after his majestic knock which helped India draw the second Test against New Zealand. 

India drew the second Test against New Zealand, after a resurgent effort by its batsmen in the second innings. The Kiwis scored a superb 619 in the first innings and bowled out the high-profile Indian batsmen for 305 in its first innings. India needed to sustain a long innings at the crease and bat out more than two days, following on, to save the Test. 

Despite losing the wicket of Sehwag early in the innings, India found an unlikely hero in the form of opener Gautam Gambhir. 

Gambhir showed the perfect temperament as he, along with Rahul Dravid, laid the foundation of an Indian fight-back. Gambhir, normally a prolific run-getter, scored an extremely patient 137 runs which came after more than 10 hours of toiling at the crease. 


Speaking about Gambhir’s knock, Sehwag said, “I think Gautam played his lifetime innings, because hardly have players played for almost 11 hours. He is the one who saved the game for us. I think we can call him the second wall of the Indian cricket team and this time comes from North.” 

Dravid is normally referred to as India’s ‘Wall’ because of his tendency to play long grueling knocks at the crease for sustained periods of time and his immaculate defense. 

Gambhir and Dravid put on 133 for the second wicket. After Dravid’s dismissal Gambhir put on a 97-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar and another 96-run partnership with VVS Laxman. 

With the exception of Sehwag, all the Indian batsmen who came out to bat in the second innings got half centuries, while Gambhir and Laxman scored tons as the match slowly meandered to a draw. 

Asked whether there were some fears in the Indian dressing room after the first-innings collapse, Sehwag showed utmost confidence in his teammates saying, “"We were confident of saving the match. We were very sure that we can bat through two and a half days.” 

“We have a capable batting line-up, they can bat two and a half days. Laxman, Dravid, Gautam, Tendulkar they can bat for two days.” 

"We have done that a couple of times. We did that against Australia in 2001 series, we did that in Adelaide in 2004 when we won the game. No one thought we would lose the game. That's why we were enjoying ourselves playing football, volleyball during the game." 

Asked whether regular captain MS Dhoni, under whom India won the first Test by 10 wickets, will be fit for the final Test Sehwag said, “I don't know yet but he (Dhoni) will give his fitness Test day after." 

India currently leads the three-match Test series 1-0 with the final Test scheduled to be played at Wellington on April 3