When a forever carefree Virender Sehwag actually batted for a milestone
As much as he makes his presence felt on social media with his witty tweets, Virender Sehwag will be forever remembered as the man who reinvented the opener’s role in Tests, showing Team India how to play fearless cricket throughout the 2000s.
Someone who calls a spade a spade, Sehwag garnered the respect of his peers and fans alike for his no-nonsense approach to both batting, and life.
On the internet TV show What The Duck, Sehwag recalled interesting anecdotes from his playing career that even his most ardent fans must be unaware of.
Sehwag’s only fear
A fearless Sehwag conquered bowlers the world over, but the Delhi batsman, who travelled with the team on numerous tours throughout his long career, admitted that he has a phobia of flying.
He recalled an incident when he was travelling from New Delhi to Dubai in 1998, a year before he made his international debut, when his flight suddenly dropped 1000 feet. According to him, everyone screamed out, “Mommy!”, making Sehwag realise how, in times of need, people invariably remember their mothers.
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He reminisced about another instance from 2003, when the team was travelling with coach John Wright to Durban. The flight, lasting around an hour and a half, battled through rains and heavy winds, leading to extreme turbulence. With no food or water being served, Sehwag noted that Wright was sitting extremely tensed in one corner, chanting “Oh Jesus, help me”!
After they successfully landed, Sehwag and the other players approached the Kiwi, letting out a sigh of relief that Jesus had indeed helped him.
When Sammy’s drop helped Sehwag scale Mt. 200
While everyone remembers Sehwag’s two triple hundreds in Tests, his double century in ODIs doesn’t find the same kind of mention in Indian cricketing folklore. There were previous instances when he thought he could have come close to achieving the landmark, including during his 175 against Bangladesh (World Cup 2011) and 146 against Sri Lanka (2009, when he had more than 15 overs to play with).
Against West Indies at Indore in 2011, when Sehwag eventually did achieve the landmark, he said that a cloud of optimism engulfed him before the match, and knew it was his day when Darren Sammy dropped an absolute dolly off his bat. “Even my son Aryaveer would have taken that catch,” Sehwag exclaimed.
The only time Sehwag cared about a landmark
No one has scored three triple-centuries in Tests: Sehwag came agonisingly close to scoring one against Sri Lanka in 2009, when he was dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan on 293. He had scored 284 in a single day, and had looked destined to score a triple the following day.
Before the day’s play started, he told coach Gary Kirsten that he would not be warming up, and was just walking casually across the park, when he spotted Sachin Tendulkar.
He walked up to the Master Blaster and said that he would like Sachin to grant him a secret favour, if he [Sehwag] did indeed complete a triple century. The God of Cricket obliged, making Sehwag extremely happy as this was the only time he had asked Sachin for a favour. Sehwag's single-minded focus turned to scoring a 300, the first time he was actually playing for one. Alas, it was not meant to be, as a Murali doosra foxed him, leaving him seven runs short.