'Bowlers are scared of Virender Sehwag'- Greg Chappell recalls conversation with former India opener that made him crack up

Virender Sehwag is known for two things - his destructive batting at the top of the order, and his amazing sense of humour. Greg Chappell recalled both as he named the former India opener in his Test XI of players he would pay to watch in a column for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Greg Chappell, who was the India head coach from 2005 to 2007, also spoke about an interesting conversation he once had with Virender Sehwag that made him crack up.

"One day, I tried to persuade him to get into position to tuck the straight deliveries to the leg side, thereby compelling bowlers to target his off-stump strength. Rather provocatively, I asked, 'Are you scared of fast bowlers?'" narrated Chappell.

"With his trademark cheeky grin, he replied, 'Sehwag is scared of fast bowlers, but fast bowlers are scared of Sehwag!' I cracked up," recalled Chappell.

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Virender Sehwag terrorised opening bowlers throughout his career: Greg Chappell

Virender Sehwag dominated international cricket for India.

Greg Chappell heaped heavy praise on Virender Sehwag as he named the former India opener in his most exciting Test XI of the past 60 years. The former Australia batsman described Sehwag as 'more than a kamikaze-style basher', and said that he often toyed with opposition bowlers.

"Indian genius Virender Sehwag terrorised opening bowlers throughout his career. Viru was the best ball-striker I have seen. His record of double and triple hundreds, though, shows that he was more than a kamikaze-style basher," Chappell noted.

"Once he summed up the opposition and conditions and found things to his liking, he toyed with opposition bowlers. He had an uncanny ability to smash boundaries to all parts of the field, but his great strength was square of the wicket on the off side," Chappell said about Sehwag.

Virender Sehwag enjoyed an amazing career in international cricket for India, scoring 8586 Test runs and 8273 ODI runs. His swashbuckling batting and aggression at the top of the order made him one of the world's best batsmen in his prime. Sehwag is one of only four players to hit two 300s in Test match cricket, and he also became the second batsman to score a double hundred in ODI cricket.