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Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has revealed that he was almost appointed as the head coach of the Indian National Cricket Team during the time when the relationship between then-captain Virat Kohli and head coach Anil Kumble had turned sour.
At that time, the Indian National Cricket Team was performing well on the field, but things behind the scenes were not going easy at all. The differences between Kohli and Kumble eventually led to the legendary spinner stepping down as India's head coach in June 2017. Amid this, Jasprit Bumrah injury raises questions over BCCI Centre of Excellence after selector confusion.
Virender Sehwag reveals he was offered Team India head coach role
Now, years later, Virender Sehwag has shared how close he came to taking over one of the biggest roles in the sports world. Sehwag said that he did not apply for the coaching position on his own; instead, acting BCCI Secretary Amitabh Choudhary personally contacted him and discussed the situation inside the Indian team.
At that time, Sehwag was in England for the 2017 Champions Trophy as part of the commentary panel. The plan was that once Kumble's contract ended after the tournament, Sehwag could directly travel with the Indian team to the West Indies as the new head coach.
BCCO refused to accept Virender Sehwag's condition
However, the appointment never happened because Sehwag had one important condition. He wanted complete freedom to choose his own support staff if he became India's head coach. Amid this, India pick Tanush Kotian, Harsh Dubey and Vipraj Nigam for Sri Lanka Test tour.
He wanted to select every member of his coaching group himself, including the assistant coach, batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, physio, and trainer. But the BCCI did not agree to this demand. Because of that, Sehwag could not take up the coaching role.
After Kumble resigned, Sanjay Bangar headed the Indian team for the West Indies tour. A few weeks later, Ravi Shastri was appointed as India's full-time head coach in July 2017. He remained in the role until the end of the 2021 T20 World Cup.
I neither said yes nor no: Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag was quoted as saying by cricketnextofficial: “I would not even have applied if Virat Kohli or the BCCI secretary at that time, Amitabh Choudhary, had not approached me. He held a proper meeting with me where he said things are not okay between Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli, so they wanted me to apply and become coach.”
The legendary opener continued, “He told you you are going to commentate for the 2017 Champions Trophy, so Anil's contract will end, and you can just take the team to the West Indies from there. I neither said yes nor no. But I said if I went, I would want my staff. Assistant coach, batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, physio, trainer—I would have all of my choices. But I did not get the choice to do this, so I did not go.”
Virender Sehwag's successful India career
Although Sehwag never became India's coach, he had a successful international career. Sehwag represented India in 104 Test matches, 251 ODIs, and 19 T20 Internationals. In Test cricket, he scored 8,586 runs at an average of 49.34, including 23 centuries and 32 half-centuries.
In ODIs, Sehwag scored 8,273 runs with 15 centuries and 38 fifties while maintaining an impressive strike rate of 104.33. He also has 394 runs at a strike rate of 145.38 to his name in T20I cricket.
Sehwag was also a key member of India's 2007 T20 World Cup-winning squad in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning team under MS Dhoni.
