Virender Sehwag was a fierce opener with a mindset a few would have. He liked to take charge at the bowlers from the word go and it hardly mattered to him if he got out on a duck or scored a triple century — his expressions would remain the same. It is one of these qualities which helped Virender Sehwag achieved success as an opener of the Indian cricket team.
“Look at Yuvraj, look at Sehwag. You know what he does to Sehwag. He turns around and says to him ‘look the middle order is too crowded. If you want to play for India, you have to open. There is me, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid… where are you going to get a chance? Yuvraj Singh did not get a chance for so many years because the middle order is crowded. Go and open’,” Joy Bhattacharjya said in a conversation with Gaurav Kapur on 22 Yarns.
“And what happened was that Sehwag opened and the history was made,” Bhattacharjya added.
Sehwag went on to achieve several accolades for the national team as an opener. He could hit a boundary on the first ball and smash a six to reach his century. Besides that he was the first Indian cricketer to hit a triple century in the longest format of the game.
Sehwag retired with over 17000 international runs. He scored at an average nearly 50 in the longest format and 35.05 in the ODIs. He also played a few years in the Indian Premier League (IPL).