Virender Sehwag turns 40: Seven Test hundreds in under 100 balls, a world record

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag is celebrating his 40th birthday today. Known as an aggressive opening batsman, Sehwag was born on October 20, 1978, in the Najafgarh area of Delhi. Wishes are pouring in for him from the cricket world on his birthday.

With his explosive batting, Sehwag made a distinct mark in cricket across the world. Several records stand in his name, and some of them have not been broken so far.

Playing aggressively, whether in One-Day Internationals or Tests, was Sehwag's hallmark. He holds a Test record that no other batsman in the world has come close to. Sehwag has scored a hundred in fewer than 100 balls on seven occasions in Tests, a unique world record.

Attacking the bowlers from the start and not letting them settle appeared to be Sehwag's strategy. In Test history, he is the first batsman in the world to score the fastest hundreds by attacking on all sides from the outset. He has several other Test records to his name as well.

Other aggressive players have also hit quick hundreds, but they are well behind Sehwag. Brendon McCullum, David Warner and Chris Gayle completed a hundred in fewer than 100 balls four times in their careers. India's great all-rounder Kapil Dev, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and West Indies great Brian Lara have done it three times.

Now to Sehwag's seven hundreds. Against the West Indies in 2006, he scored a hundred in 78 balls, his fastest. After that, he reached a hundred in 87 balls against Sri Lanka in 2008, in 90 balls against Sri Lanka again in 2010, and in 90 balls against South Africa, also in 2010. In 2009, he completed a hundred in 97 balls against Sri Lanka.

The hallmark of Virender's batting, the former explosive opener, was that his aggressive approach never changed, whatever the conditions or the bowler in front of him. In that style, he always took the bowlers apart.