"Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri were asking for all our rights" - Virender Sehwag on how he came to know about IPL
Virender Sehwag is arguably one of the most destructive openers India has ever produced, and he was also an icon player in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Sehwag recently opened up on how he became Delhi Daredevils' icon player in the inaugural edition of the league back in 2008.
Fresh off their 2007 T20 World Cup win a few months prior, India were touring Australia, and Sehwag was a part of their squad. In a recent press conference arranged by Star Sports ahead of the celebration of 15 years of the IPL, Sehwag spoke about how he came to know that such a league was going to be formed.
Virender Sehwag claimed that former Indian cricketers and famous commentators Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri had approached players like him to give all their rights to the league.
“A lot of time has passed since the inception of the IPL," he said. "My children have become adults and they’ve started playing cricket too. But I will never forget the first time we were briefed about this when we were in Australia. Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri approached us and said that there is going to be an Indian Premier League and they were asking for all our rights."
Didn't know the IPL would give rise to so many superstars: Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag confessed that he and a few other players were a bit skeptical about giving their rights to a new league at that point, as they didn't know how things could pan out.
But in hindsight the former Indian opener is delighted with the success that IPL has brought, both in monetary terms and with the talent pool that it has generated.
"We were wondering whether the league would be successful or not – what if after giving away our rights we do not gain anything from it," Virender Sehwag said. "But they assured us that the coming years will be very big for cricket in India and whatever rights we grant to this league, we will be able to earn much more than that."
"Money was secondary at the time but we didn’t know that the league would give rise to so many youngsters who would one day replace us and become stars," he added.
After the success of the IPL, fans are hoping that even the Women's Premier League becomes a huge success and increases the depth of talent in Indian women's cricket.