'Hope people stop criticising Viru after this knock'

'Hope people stop criticising Viru after this knock'

Irrespective of success or failures, the tough grind of international crickethad helped Virender Sehwag to remain nonchalant over the years, but his childhoodcoach A N Sharma admitted that he used to get "hurt" by the criticalremarks about his favourite student.

Sehwag todaysmashed a run-a-ball 117 against England, breaking a two-year century droughtin Test cricket.

"This is aspecial knock and I hope that it silences all those who were sceptical aboutViru's ability to play big knocks at the international stage. This is a fittinganswer to all those barbs aimed at him. Muuh se naahin balle se jawab diya haiusne (he has let his bat do the talking)," an ecstatic Sharma told PTI today.

The man who hashelped a young Sehwag hone his skills to become a top quality internationalplayer, admitted that criticism "hurt" him more than his ward.

"Viru is aman of different quality. I would admit that if someone writes all those thingsabout my favourite student, I would certainly get hurt but he remained unfazedand would tell me not to bother about all these things," the veteran coachremarked.

But all said anddone, wasn't two years a very long wait for his 23rd Test hundred, Sharma wasquick to retort, "Name one player who did well against England andAustralia consistently during those eight Test matches that we lost? Justbecause he (Sehwag) is an attacking batsman, the focus is more on hisfailures."

Did he speak onany technical issues with Sehwag before the start of the series, the coachanswered, "When someone plays 99 Tests, there must be something rightabout him. When I spoke before he left for Mumbai (camp), I just told him totry and bat for as long as possible because no bowler will then be able to stophim from playing his strokes."

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