"It went over the stadium for six" - Brett Lee recalls how Australia's ploy against Virender Sehwag backfired 

Former Australia speedster Brett Lee recently revealed that he found it very difficult to bowl to former India opener Virender Sehwag.

Lee shared a video on his YouTube channel on Wednesday (August 10), in which he spoke about how Sehwag used to counter Australia's ploys with his attacking approach.

The former cricketer revealed that the Australian team would prefer to have a third man for the batter, even in Test matches. The 45-year-old mentioned that he would look to bowl short and wide to Sehwag, hoping that he would take the bait and hit it straight to the third man fielder.

He disclosed that he once tried the same thing during an ODI game. But his plan against Sehwag backfired as the right-hander slammed a monstrous six off the short-pitched delivery.

Lee stated:

"The Australian cricket team generally had a ploy for Virender Sehwag and used to even start a Test match with a third man and try and bowl one short to try and suck him in to try and hit one down the third man.

"We tried it in a one-day match, I bowled one wide, but it was perfect, it was short and thought he's going to fall for the trap. He nailed it, and guess what, it went over the stadium for six. I just thought that this guy was so good.

"He'd give you that cheeky little wink. The great thing about Sehwag is that he was a character. He loved playing the game of cricket and loved the little battle scars against the bowler.

"He put bums on the seats. He had the ability to get people through the turnstiles to get there very early to make sure that they watched the first ball."

Lee did get the better of Sehwag on several occasions, dismissing him eleven times in international cricket.

Notably, Sehwag tormented the Australian bowlers across formats. He managed 1821 runs from 23 Tests against the side at an impressive strike rate of 75.68 and average of 41.39.

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"I think he was perfectly suited to Test match" - Brett Lee on Virender Sehwag's batting exploits in red-ball cricket

Brett Lee added that while many believe that Virender Sehwag's game suited white-ball cricket, he feels that the player was also capable enough to dominate in Tests.

The cricketer-turned-commentator explained how Sehwag would often disturb the line and length of bowlers by attacking right from the first ball.

He added:

"But a lot of people said, is he more of a one-day or T20 cricketer? I don't believe so. I think he was perfectly suited to Test match cricket because the hardest thing as a bowler is when you ball the first ball in a Test match, you try to find your rhythm, try to bowl the perfect outswinger.

"When you do that as a bowler, and you bowl that first ball and he goes bang straight down the ground and he takes you on, that can really muck up a bowler's line and length. That's exactly what he wanted to do."

Watch the full video here:

Virender Sehwag achieved tremendous success in the longest format. The dynamic batter finished with 8586 runs from 104 games. It is worth mentioning that he is the only Indian player to hit two triple centuries in Test matches.