India's chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar showered rich praise on Virender Sehwag for his blazing triple century on Day 3 of the first Test against South Africa in Chennai on Friday.
"One of the finest innings I have seen in Test cricket," Vengsarkar said at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chepauk.
Sehwag smashed a record 309 not out off 292 deliveries, with an amazing tally of 42 boundaries and five sixes, to pummel the visitors into submission. It was his second triple century in Tests and put him alongside the legendary Don Bradman and Brian Lara.
India, South Africa's first innings score of 540, ended the day on a comfortable 468 for 1.
Vengsarkar said it was commendable that Sehwag did not throw away his wicket and stayed on to play a big innings.
"He knew that he had to stay at the wicket and play a big knock, because you never know when a bad patch will come; so he made it count," said the former India captain.
He said it is a tremendous comeback by Sehwag, who late last year was struggling for runs before his match-saving 151 against Australia at Adelaide in January.
"When we picked him for Australia, many people criticized it because he didn't score enough runs. But he did well in Australia and played that great knock of 151 in the Adelaide Test," he said.
Vengsarkar said Sehwag's domination in the middle was proved by the large number of boundaries and sixes he carted all over the stadium.
"It was a tremendous innings, because everything he hit came off the middle of the bat and you could see the number of boundaries and sixes that he hit."
He believes that Sehwag's quick knock has given India a real good chance to force a victory on the final day.
"Because he has played at such a quick rate, it could now give the bowlers time to bowl South Africa out on the fifth day. The match is definitely on now and if we can give them a lead of around 150 then we have a good chance on the final day," he said.
