Had reason for not following advice… I did it my way: Virender Sehwag
He began by paraphrasing Mark Twain. He ended by quoting Frank Sinatra. Who would have imagined Virender Sehwag would invoke these two American legends to bookend his retirement statement? Then again, what else to expect of Sehwag but the unexpected?
“I did it my way!” Sehwag signed off the letter, using Sinatra’s immortal line. He couldn’t have finished it more appropriately. A fitting parting shot.
Talks about his retirement had suddenly surfaced on Monday night, with the man himself hinting at it during a promotional event in Dubai of all places. At 37, when your last international match came more than two years ago, you don’t hint at retirements, you just go ahead and call it a day. But that’s Sehwag.
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Overstay is Welcome
In a career that spanned close to a decade-and-a-half, Sehwag broke long-accorded customs with the same disdain with which he smashed balls. Along the way, he became the cavalier poster-boy for playing cricket ‘your way’.
Not surprisingly, traditionalists were always lining up the world over to question and debate whether Sehwag could make it on the big stage, what with his well-publicised technical discrepancies. But he never changed, and stuck to his guns to eventually become one of India’s greatest openers in both Tests and ODIs. In all, he scored 17,253 international runs, with 38 centuries. He also transformed opening the batting in Tests forever, scoring his runs at a manic strike-rate of 82.23, and is widely regarded as Indian cricket’s foremost match-winner in Tests in the 21st century.
Throughout, he kept dispelling myths about his so-called limitations.
They said he didn’t have the technique to play Test cricket. But Sehwag went on to become India’s first-ever, and to-date the only, triple-centurion in the longer format. He then promptly added a second one, which still remains the quickest 300, off 274 balls, scored in Test history. He also became the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, his idol, to score a double-century in ODIs in December 2011. His 219 against West Indies in Indore was for its time the highest individual score in 50-over cricket.
Coaches would soon realize that it was best to leave Sehwag alone. No wonder then that the Nawab of Najafgarh, as he was coined, made it a point to thank everyone who told him how he should play over the years along with all his teammates, opponents, family, friends and his multitude of fans.
“I also want to thank everyone for all the cricketing advice given to me over the years and apologize for not accepting most of it,” he wrote in typically tongue-in-cheek Sehwag fashion.
Like with most stroke-players, Sehwag’s latter career was dogged with inconsistent performances as his hand-eye co-ordination, which had held him in such good stead, started to wane. He batted with glasses in his last few Tests, turning out for India for the last time in March 2013 against Australia.
Sehwag was also a useful off-spinner, picking up crucial wickets for India, and he even captained the country in 12 ODIs and four Tests, mostly as a stand-in. He was also part of both the 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup winning teams.
Pre-meditated move
He confirmed in his statement that the retirement decision wasn’t as instinctive as his batting approach and that he had planned it that way.
“I have always done what I have felt was right and not what conformists thought to be right. God has been kind and I have done what I wanted to do — on the field and in my life and I had decided sometime back that I will retire on my 37th birthday,” it read.
Sehwag, who played for Delhi throughout his career in domestic cricket before shifting to Haryana this season, will play out the remainder of the Ranji Trophy season before turning up in the Masters Champions League, a UAE-based T20 tournament next year.
In an interview to ANI later in the day, he admitted what we seemed to be telling everyone whenever he walked out to bat, “My funda was to score on every ball.” Sehwag also revealed that he wasn’t done with cricket and would try to stay in it through coaching or commentary. Whatever he does, we know this for sure that he will do it, “his way”.
