Why Virender Sehwag does not want to play in the IPL
Virender Sehwag retired from international cricket late 2015 and broke the hearts of many of his fans who would have hoped to see him play in the blue jersey one last time. Along with retiring from international cricket, Sehwag also bid goodbye to the glamorous Indian Premier League (IPL).
Retiring from all forms of international cricket is one thing, however, deciding not to play the entertaining IPL is something that would have surprised many cricket fans, considering how good Sehwag is at playing the shortest format of the game.
The 37-year-old had featured in all the eight editions of the T20 tournament since 2008. In his eight IPL years, he played for the Delhi Daredevils and the Kings XI Punjab.
Sehwag played 104 matches in the IPL and has an impressive record of scoring 2728 runs at an average of 27.55, which is a fairly decent number for T20 format. However, his strike rate is what made him a special player. A strike rate of 155.44 is nothing short of commendable when a player plays more than a 100 games. Sehwag also scored two centuries and 16 half-centuries in his IPL career.
It might be bemusing to many fans why a player with such a record in a particular format of the game would stop playing that format. But, Sehwag always did things his way, just like he told in his felicitation at the Feroz Shah Kotla. He played cricket his way, and he quit cricket his way.
In a recent post, that was posted through Virender Sehwag's official Facebook page, Sehwag shares a quote from the recent interview he had with ESPNCricinfo. The quote reveals the reason why Sehwag does not want to play in the IPL anymore.
Sehwag was of the opinion that the IPL was the perfect platform to find talented young Indian players and that was the main reason he wanted to stop playing in the IPL. Although Sehwag would be a vital cog in any team he plays for, the former batsman was giving up his place for someone who could do get some day play for the Indian squad.
He brought up the example of his Kings XI teammate, Manan Vohra, who was never able to feature in every game due to Sehwag being a regular in the playing XI. Now that Sehwag won't be featuring in the KXIP squad, Vohra could very well play in his favoured position as an opener and attempt to impress the national selectors with his performances.
Here is what Sehwag posted (Virender Sehwag's official Facebook page):
"Indian players play in IPL to get into Indian team. There is no point playing in IPL when I have retired from...
Posted by Virender Sehwag on Wednesday, 6 January 2016