BCCI mulling to give Virender Sehwag send-off at Feroz Shah Kotla
Virender Sehwag announced his retirement from international cricket on October 20. (Source: PTI)
On the lines of Zaheer Khan’s felicitation at the Wankhede Stadium during the fifth and final ODI, the BCCI is looking to give veteran batsman Virender Sehwag a formal send-off in the fourth Test in Delhi starting December 3.
Sehwag announced his retirement from international cricket on October 20, which was a day after he had indicated his intent during the Masters Cricket League launch in Dubai.
The 37-year-old swashbuckler switched domestic loyalties, ending his long-time association with Delhi to captain the Haryana Ranji side this season.
The former India opener will also be seen playing along side other former greats including Sachin Tendulkar. Sehwag became the latest high-profile former cricketer to join the inaugural Cricket All-Stars series, which is co-promoted by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, in the USA next month.
The BCCI though is keen to felicitate it’s one-time destructive opener but there seems to be no formal communication to the DDCA as of now.
“As of now we have not received any intimation letter from BCCI, but obviously if they have expressed their wish, it must be true. We will also discuss what needs to be done at our end at DDCA,” said DDCA President Sneh Prakash Bansal.
There was also talk about a gate being named after the Najafgarh-born player at Kotla and Bansal said that the matter is under consideration.
“Yes, there has been talk and we have been discussing about it, but nothing concrete has come out yet,” Bansal added.
Making his international debut in an ODI against Pakistan, Sehwag went on to play 104 Tests and 251 one-day matches for India, scoring 8586 runs at an average of 47.35 in the longest version and 8273 runs in the 50-over format. But it was his strike-rate of 82.23 in Tests and 104.33 in ODIs is what set him apart from his contemporaries.
