Virender Sehwag is one of the few players in Indian cricket history who would be remembered for his flashy batting style. Whatever the bowlers were like, he just had one way of facing them all — smash! He is still regarded as one of the most dangerous openers to have ever represented his country in international cricket. Sehwag retired in 2015 with over 16000 runs and over 130 international wickets to his name.
However, the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’ considered retiring from cricket at one point during his career. During the 2008 Australia tour, Sehwag said to Cricbuzz that he intended to retire from ODIs after being dropped for a few gams by then-captain MS Dhoni.
“This question (of retiring) came to mind in 2008 while we were in Australia. In the Test series, I made a comeback and scored a 150. In ODIs, I couldn’t score much in three or four tries. So, once MS Dhoni dropped me from the playing XI, I considered retiring from ODI cricket. “I assumed I’d limit myself to Test cricket,” Sehwag stated.
The former batter also said that batting legend Sachin Tendulkar prevented him from calling it quits.
“At that point, Sachin Tendulkar intervened. ‘This is a dreadful time in your life,’ he remarked. Simply wait till after this tour, return home, think carefully, and then decide what to do next.’ “Fortunately, I didn’t announce my retirement at the time,” he explained.
Sehwag made a brilliant comeback in the Test set-up after a long absence in 2008, when India toured Australia. He was a member of Anil Kumble’s team and found himself in the middle of a run. However, he only got to play 5 out of 10 matches in the following limited-overs series, a tri-nation CB series between India, Australia, and Sri Lanka.
He was pulled from the playing XI after scoring 6, 33, 11 and 14 runs in the first four games. He returned to the lineup in the seventh game, but another poor performance (14 runs) forced him out for the rest of the series.
India made history in Australia by defeating Australia 2-0 in a best-of-three final.
