Virender Sehwag: I don't worry about milestones

Virender Sehwag

Aggressive Indian batsman Virender Sehwag has said that he is not planning to quit international cricket anytime soon. In an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, which was held before he was excluded from India’s list of probables for the 2015 World Cup, the 36-year-old said that he has achieved everything he set out to achieve and is just enjoying the sport now.

Sehwag still enjoys cricket

"As a cricketer, everybody has a dream to play for your country. When I took up cricket seriously, I wanted to play for India. When my dream was achieved, I thought what next? Then a fellow cricketer told me, 'playing for India is easy, playing for 10-15 years is difficult'. Then I changed my dream to play 100 Test matches. I achieved that as well. Now there is nothing to achieve, so I am just enjoying things," Sehwag said.

The Delhi batsman added that he isn’t very concerned about individual milestones and wants to play cricket for at least a couple of years more. He played his 100^th Test against England in 2012, but was dropped shortly after from all forms of the game.

Sehwag spoke about being happy in his life, despite not being at his best.

"You should be happy in your life. Cricketers are worried about their milestones, worried that they should score 5000-10,000 Test runs but I am not fussy. I played 100 Tests and I am still playing the game, that's what I want to do," he said.

"If I retire today or after two years, does it make any difference? Not in my life. Does it make a difference if I score 8000 or 10,000 runs in Test cricket? Not in anybody's life. Even if I make 10,000 runs, who will be happy? Only me, maybe, because people don't care about 8000 or 10,000 or 15,000 runs. It is about individual satisfaction."

Sehwag not trying anything different

The right-handed batsman, who was part of India’s World Cup-winning campaign in 2011, also said that he wasn’t trying anything different despite being out of form for so long.

"My approach is the same. Yes, I am not able to give the kind of performances that I used to. If you look at my first-class stats, if I score runs I score them quickly, if I get out, I get out quickly. I have never tried to change my game.

"In some matches, I told myself to give some time, scored just five runs in 36 balls on green wickets in Delhi where it is difficult to score. It happens. When you are growing older, you have the experience and that can help you score but it's not possible to get a hundred every time you go out there," he added.

Sehwag has played 104 Tests for India, scoring 8586 at an average of just under 50. He last played a match for the country in March 2013.