"I never wished to become a captain" - Virender Sehwag claims he was happy to help India as a leader

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag claimed that getting the captaincy was never his priority as a player. There was a lot of talk about whether Sehwag wanted the captaincy once Rahul Dravid stepped down as skipper.

However, the former opener claimed that he was more than happy to just contribute his ideas to the team as a senior player and help captains like MS Dhoni rather than himself taking over the reins.

Speaking to Sanjay Manjrekar on JioCinema, here's what Virender Sehwag had to say about the prospect of being an Indian captain:

"I never wished to become a captain. Yes, I had a sharp mind and I wanted to share my ideas with the players. Thanks to Greg Chappell, I could never become a vice-captain again as I had lost my form a bit. I wanted to entertain with my game. The focus was never that much on taking captaincy."

Virender Sehwag on the end of his career

Virender Sehwag was dropped after two Tests against Australia during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2012/13. He was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan and Team India didn't look back at the veteran opener ever since.

Sehwag understands that he was dropped due to lack of performances, but also claimed that he received no communication from the selectors that they were going to move on from him. On this, he stated:

"I had no idea that I would be dropped after two Tests (Australia 2012/13). Had I known that the selectors were not looking at me, I would have voluntarily announced my retirement then and there. I believe the team should be picked on performances."

Sehwag played 104 Tests for India, with 8586 runs at an outstanding average of 49.34 and 23 centuries to his name. He also scored two triple-centuries, one each against Pakistan and South Africa.