Birthday boy Virender Sehwag is one of the very few players who is missed by the fans after his retirement. He is not only someone who can be destructive with the bat but is also capable of getting into the opposition’s mind when he is at the crease and has won several matches for India on his own.
Sehwag ended his career with 8586 Test runs in 104 matches at an average of just below 50 and accounted for 8273 runs in 251 ODIs at an average of 35. The most amazing thing about his batting, however, is his strike-rate. The destructive opener has strike rates of 82 and 104 in Tests and ODIs respectively.
Also read: 10 best moments from Virender Sehwag's international career
There are several instances that define Sehwag as an individual and they include his aggressive batting, cheeky press conferences and pulling the legs of teammates. On the occasion of his 38th birthday, let us take a look at few things that come to mind when we hear the name “Virender Sehwag.”
#1 Destruction with the bat
Sehwag is one amongst very few batsmen who excelled in International cricket in spite of not having a proper technique. He relies more on hand-eye co-ordination rather than orthodox footwork.
The nature of the wicket, overhead conditions and the reputation of the bowler do not matter to the Nawab of Najafgarh. The only thing that matters to him is that a red cherry (sometimes white) is coming towards him and every time he sees that, he has to smash it out of his sight.
Such is the reputation he had and it gave nightmares to the bowlers bowling at him.
When Sehwag was at the top of the order in the Indian batting line-up, the starts he gave instilled confidence in his fellow batsmen and that has won his side matches on several occasions. His attacking batting allowed the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman to take their time to settle down before going for the kill.
It is very important for an International team to have someone like Virender Sehwag at the top of the order for over a decade and in this case, the Indian cricket team is lucky to have had him for nearly 13 years.
Now that he is gone, it is fair to say that India have sorely missed his presence.
#2 First ball boundary
MS Dhoni hitting a six off the last ball is a common sight for an Indian cricket fan as he has done it several times in the past. The 2011 World Cup finals, 2013 Celkon Cup finals, 2016 Asia Cup finals are some of the instances in which Dhoni finished off with a bang.
Just like Dhoni, Sehwag had his own routine, scoring a boundary off the very first ball of the innings. The 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent saw Sehwag getting the Indian innings off to a great start by scoring a boundary off the first ball on several occasions.
In his ODI career, Sehwag did it on 20 occasions, the most by any batsman. The second best in the list(Shane Watson - 8 times) has done it on less than half the occasions.
Sehwag faced the first ball of his side’s innings on 124 occasions and struck a boundary every 6th time on average. Out of the 20 occasions in which Sehwag has struck a boundary off the first ball, 1 of them resulted in a six, making him the only batsman in the history of ODI cricket to hit a six off the first ball of an innings.
#3 Reaching milestones with a six
In the previous slide, we had a look at Sehwag’s affinity towards scoring a first ball boundary. He is also famous for something which other batsmen won’t even think of doing in their dreams.
A batsman is generally under enormous pressure when he is close to reaching a milestone (50, 100, 150, 200 etc.) and often he will look to reach the milestone safely without taking any risks.
There are regular batsmen and then, there is Virender Sehwag, who likes to get to these milestones in style ie. by hitting a six. It doesn’t matter what his score is, he will just look to get the pressure off him by smashing the ball out of the park. When he scored both his triple centuries, he scored a six when he was in the 290s and reached the milestone with ease.
Since his retirement, it has become a complete rarity to see batsmen attempt such feats.
#4 Attitude on and off the field
Virender Sehwag’s attitude with the bat is known to fans all around the world. Off the field, however, he is a completely different personality who doesn’t like to take things in a serious way. This is evident from the claims made by his teammates from the Indian team.
Once, on Day 1 of a Test at the Oval, Rahul Dravid was playing out of his skin. Sourav Ganguly, meanwhile, was padded up in the dressing room. It was when Sehwag, who was in great form in that series got out early and sat next to Ganguly in the dressing room that things kicked off.
Suddenly, he began to comment - cover drive four, square cut four - to the balls that Dravid left alone. It made Ganguly nervous and immediately, the skipper asked Sehwag to get away from him and sit at the back.
Also read: 17 of the most remarkable quotes by Virender Sehwag
Sehwag also had the tendency to sing a song while batting, whistle while walking out to bat and share jokes with his batting partner. When the opposition players were sledging his teammates, Sehwag used to give them an earful.
There was an incident which Sehwag himself narrated to Shah Rukh Khan at a function. During an India-Pakistan match, Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar kept banging it in short and provoking him to play the hook shot. In reply, Sehwag said, “Joh non-striker end pe khada hai, woh tera baap hai. Usko bol, woh maarke dikhayega.” (The guy at the non-striking end is your father. Tell him, he will hit).
Later, Sachin hooked Shoaib for a six and when he was walking back to his bowling crease, Sehwag taunted him by saying, “Beta beta hota ha, aur baap baap.” (Son is a son and father is a father).
#5 Redefining Twitter
The Indian cricket fans will surely miss Virender Sehwag, the batsman, especially after seeing India struggling to find a good opener who can get the team off to a great start.
After his retirement from the sport last year, Sehwag has kept himself busy with various activities.
He took part in the Masters Cricket League in UAE, he was part of the Star Sports commentary team for the Hindi audience in which he won a lot of hearts with his great sense of humour and even mentored Kings XI Punjab in the 2016 edition of IPL.
Also read: When Gautam Gambhir did a Virender Sehwag on Twitter
One more thing in which he is winning people’s hearts every passing day is Twitter, where he has redefined the art of Tweeting, wishing his friends and teammates and getting involved in a lot of friendly banter.
As a fan, one should not miss out on the way he wishes his teammates or fellow celebrities on their birthdays. His Twitter account is one of the funniest things you will ever witness on a social media platform.
Take a look at some of his tweets below:
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