Virender Sehwag Reveals He Wanted To Take ODI Retirement In 2008 When MS Dhoni Dropped Him But Sachin Tendulkar Changed His Mind

Former India opener Virender Sehwag has made a big revelation that he wanted to take retirement from the One Day International (ODI) cricket during the Australia tour in 2008 after then skipper MS Dhoni decided to drop him from the team.

During the Commonwealth Bank tri-series featuring hosts Australia, India and Sri Lanka, the India National Cricket Team played 10 games and Sehwag only played 5 games due to his poor performance. In the first 4 games he registered the scores of 6, 33, 11, and 14, as a result, he was dropped from the playing XI.

However, he was given an opportunity once again in the game against Australia where he scored just 14 runs and was dropped again.

Meanwhile, India defeated Australia by 2-0 in the best of three finals of that Commonwealth Bank series.

I thought I will continue playing only Test cricket; Sachin Tendulkar stopped me – Virender Sehwag

Speaking on Cricbuzz, Sehwag said that he thought of taking retirement from ODI after getting dropped from the MS Dhoni-led side. However, legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar stopped him from quitting ODI cricket.

“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,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz show ‘Match Party.’

“Sachin Tendulkar stopped me at that time. He said ‘this is a bad phase of your life. Just wait, go back home after this tour, think hard and then decide what to do next’. Luckily I didn’t announce my retirement at that time,” he said.

Notably, this story was shared by Sehwag when, during a discussion, he was questioned whether Virat Kohli should consider taking a break from cricket.

Sehwag also said that Kohli, who has been struggling for runs in recent times, likes challenges and he proves his doubters wrong by scoring runs for his team.

“There are two types of players – Those who like challenges, they have fun in such situations and Virat is one of those. He listens to all the criticism and reacts on the field by scoring runs to prove them wrong. The other type are the ones who are unaffected by all the noise because at the end of the day they know what they need to do. I was that kind of player. I didn’t care who criticised me. I wanted to play, score runs and go home,” Sehwag added.

Also Read: IPL 2022: Jos Buttler Was In A League Of His Own: Virender Sehwag

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