Former cricketer Virender Sehwag is hailed as one of the most destructive batters to have played for the Indian cricket team. During his glorious career for the Indian cricket team, Sehwag created several records and achieved great milestones.
Sehwag played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs, and 19 T20Is scoring 8586, 8273, and 394 runs in all the three formats of the game, respectively. Sehwag also became the first Indian cricketer to score a triple century in the longest format of the game.
When Virender Sehwag Wanted To Take Retirement
Recently, Sehwag revealed how he wanted to retire from the ODIs after he was dropped from team India by captain MS Dhoni during the 2008 tri-series in Australia.
Well, during a special program on Cricbuzz, Sehwag had revealed how he was so pissed at the former Indian captain’s treatment that he wanted to take retirement from the white-ball cricket however it was Sachin Tendulkar, who convinced him not to take any decision in anger.
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who also went through his shares of ups and downs during his career, told Sehwag that it was a difficult time and also convinced him to go home and give it a proper thought. All thanks to Sachin’s wise words Sehwag calmed down and changed his decision. He revealed:
“There are two types of players. One type of player enjoys accepting challenges. Like Virat Kohli. He listens to criticism, and then makes comeback. Then there are the second type of players who does not react to criticism because they know what they can achieve. I was that kind of a player. I did not care about who criticised me and who did not. In 2008, when we were in Australia, this question (of retirement) came to my mind. I made a comeback in the Test series, scored a 150. In the ODIs, I couldn’t score that much in three-four attempts. So, MS Dhoni dropped me from the playing XI. Then the thought of quitting ODI cricket came to my mind. I thought I will continue playing only Test cricket,”
Virender Sehwag also revealed how ahead of the Asia Cup, when the chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth asked him what he wanted to do, he gave the chief selector a clear warning to not to pick him in the squad if his place in the starting line-up wasn’t guaranteed. He revealed:
“…Time changed. Chairman of selection committee K Srikkanth asked me ‘what do you want to do?’. I said ‘there was no place for me in the side despite being in good touch so what else will I do’. Pick me only if you think I will play all the matches, otherwise don’t,”
He added: “Then Srikkanth had a word with Dhoni before the Asia Cup. Dhoni said ‘Viru Paa you will play’. After that I played a lot of cricket but I didn’t share this with anyone because I knew what I had to do,”
