One of the finest cricketers in Indian history. Reports indicate that Virender Sehwag would be retiring soon from International Cricket. His sudden retirement plans follows just two days after Zaheer Khan's retirement statement put up on social media. Nicknamed 'Nawab of Najafgarh' or 'Viru', Sehwag had his fair share of ups and downs in his career.
Here are some of the best moments that Indian cricket cherished from him:
November 3, 2001: The Indian team was struggling against the South Africans with 68-4 and the heavy burden fell on the young debutant Virender Sehwag. With the likes of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis, Sehwag fired enough shots to get his first century (105) in test cricket.
July 25, 2002: On this day, Sehwag’s destiny changed as he was moved up the order by skipper Sourav Ganguly to play against England. It was none other than the legendary match at Lords stadium where he scored 84 runs from 96 balls in the opening wicket. Eventually India won the Natwest series forcing Ganguly’s shirt off from the balcony.
March 28, 2004: Scoring big against Pakistan escalates any Indian cricketer in the nation’s legend books. Sehwag scored 309 in the 1 Multan test breaking VVS Laxman’s record for highest score ever made by an Indian. He did it in style by informing Sachin “that whether it was slow, fast or whatever, I would step out and hit him (Saqlain Mushtaq) for six.” Bang! Sehwag became first Indian to score a triple ton.
March 29, 2008: India was struggling with South Africa again, where they had to chase 540 runs. Once again demolishing South Africa’s power packed bowlers, Sehwag made history scoring the fastest triple century (300 runs from 278 balls) at a test match held in Chennai. His century beats Mathew Hayden’s 380 runs off 362 balls and stood alongside with Don Bradman and Brian Lara’s triple ton.
July 31, 2008: A much in form Sehwag was at it again. After badly losing the first test against Sri Lanka, India was again under pressure where Ajanta Mendis and Muralitharan took wickets leaving only Sehwag and the tail-enders to finish the match. Sehwag went on to score the first double ton (201) against the Sri Lankans.
December 15, 2008: The entire nation was in shock and dismal after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. They had to chase 387 runs to beat England. Sehwag scored 83 runs in about 20 overs. “After the terror attacks in Mumbai we wanted to give a message to the whole of India: don’t worry, keep cheering and as long as we are together we can tackle anything,” Sehwag said in an interview.
December 6, 2009: After two triple tons, Sehwag still regrets that he missed out on becoming the first person to score third triple century against Sri Lanka. He scored 293 of 254 balls and eventually was bowled and caught by an injured Muttiah Muralitharan.
November 21, 2012: After finishing 99 test matches, Sehwag’s illustrious career stood with an average of 50.89 for 8448 runs and bagged 23 fifties and 32 hundreds to his credit.
December 8, 2011: After Sachin Tendulkar’s feat of scoring a double century in ODI history, it was Virender Sehwag’s turn to repeat the miracle. Slamming 219 from 149 balls against West Indies, Sehwag breaks Sachin’s record in ODIs.
Undated: When Sehwag was playing for Leicestershire in a county cricket match. He alongside with Jeremy Snape was struggling with reverse swings of Abdul Razzak. “This guy is making a mockery of us. I can hardly see the ball coming,” Snape tells to Sehwag. 'We must lose this ball. I have a plan,' Sehwag tells Snape. In the next over, Sehwag strikes the ball down the wicket and out of the stadium, forcing the umpires to get a new ball. 'We are all right for one hour,' Sehwag tells Snape.